Notre Dame Three-Man Quarterback Competition Winding Down

Notre Dame’s three-man spring quarterback competition – at least the public portion of it –is in the books. Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr each led four offensive series in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 in attendance as well as a few thousand more who watched the live broadcast on Peacock.

Each led scoring drives and each showed traits – both good and bad – that they bring to the table as they made their case to be the starter in 2025. Each left an impression – good, bad or indifferent – on everyone who watched, including their head coach.

“It was a lot of good,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said of his trio of quarterbacks. “A lot of good from all three guys and a lot of teaching opportunities as we’ll go back and watch. It was a reflection of how the first 11 practices (of the spring) have been. Those guys have been battling. They’ve all improved. They’re all doing some really good things and it’s crazy to think this, you’ve got three guys that all can lead your program to a victory and be your starting quarterback. So, we’ll evaluate it. We’ll talk about it and have discussions moving forward.”

Statistically, Carr and Angeli were close. Angeli, a rising senior, completed his last six passes to finish 8 for 11 (73%) for 108 yards and a touchdown pass to freshman Scrap Richardson. Carr went 14 of 19 (74%) for 170 yards, two touchdowns and the game’s only interception. Minchey was 6 of 15 (43%) for 116 yards. He ran the ball six times for one net yard, including a touchdown.

Fighting Irish tight end Eli Raridon has watched all three of the quarterbacks battle for the starting job this spring. He had a pair of receptions, including a 15-yard gain in Carr’s first drive of the day, for 21 yards. Raridon offered his thoughts on what he has seen from them this spring.

“I don’t know where it’s headed, but they’re all doing really good things, and whoever it is, is going to do a good job,” Raridon remarked afterward. “They’re all playing at a very high level. If I were to make a decision, I wouldn’t know who to pick either. It’s definitely a hard decision for (the coaches), and whoever it is will do a good job.”

It was hard not to be impressed by Carr’s performance. His accuracy, like dropping his first pass to a bracketed Kevin Bauman for a 23-yard gain, is a level above the other two. As is his arm talent, pocket presence and the ability not to just throw to receivers but to lead his targets to allow them to have maximum yards after catch opportunities.

Angeli’s day was a bit sharper than the open practice the media watched a week earlier. Angeli’s reads are not nearly as quick and decisive as either Carr or Minchey. His best throws on Saturday were predominantly checkdowns or screens, like back-to-back short throws to running back Nolan James, Jr, who had 52 yards of YAC on the two balls he caught near or behind the line of scrimmage.

Minchey’s accuracy was not on point Saturday, hence his 43% completion percentage. He showed his big arm on a couple of deep shots that were incomplete. His athleticism is still his greatest asset, but he was more up and down this week than at practice a week earlier.

The Blue-Gold game was the public’s lone chance to see all three quarterbacks, but Freeman, quarterback coach Gino Guidugli and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock have seen them daily throughout the spring. They will have three more practices in the coming days before spring officially raps to evaluate the signal callers but after that decisions will have to be made.

“You would like to be able to kind of go in the fall with a two-quarterback battle,” Freeman explained. “It’s really hard with truly having a three-quarterback battle. But we’ve got to sit down and have conversations about what’s best for our program. What’s best for our quarterbacks and we’ll make those decisions in the future.”