Peyton Houston vs Teddy Jarrard kicks off 2027 Notre Dame quarterback recruiting discourse as first offers come off the board

Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame program are attempting a very curious quarterback experiment in the 2027 recruiting class. Heading into this past weekend, they had yet to offer a single quarterback in the class. There wasn’t a single FBS team that hadn’t offered a quarterback, which left many to question the ideology. 

While nobody knew exactly which quarterbacks the Fighting Irish would target in the end, quarterback coach Gino Guidugli and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock were busy evaluating a long list of talented signal callers. That included both hosting them for visits, and working them out on the road. There was a lot that went into this evaluation process. 

In the end, or at least for now, Notre Dame is focusing on two quarterbacks to kick off this process. These are the two players that the staff has been impressed with most so far. Each brings a very unique skill set, and kicks off a pretty interesting debate. That is especially true as the Irish have really picked up their quarterback recruiting efforts over the years, including Kenny Minchey, CJ Carr, Blake Hebert, and Noah Grubbs in four straight classes. 

Peyton Houston - Shreveport (La.) Evangel Christian Academy 

A lot of people are going to focus on Houston’s underwhelming size at 5-11 and 198 pounds, but I just don’t care. This kid has an outstanding arm, both in terms of velocity and overall arm talent. Houston is also a good athlete, both in and out of the pocket. What Houston lacks in size, he makes up for in the other physical tools, and overall intangibles. If put into the right situation, the Louiana native has a chance to be a superstar. Houston was able to total 5,170 yards and 45 touchdowns as a sophomore.