John Kennedy
April 29, 2024 10:00 am ET
Since his ascension to head man three years ago, much of the talk of Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame tenure has to do with change. What changes would he instill, and would they raise the Irish to higher heights? Now that we are entering year three, evidence of that change through Freeman’s vision is beginning to show itself.
The roster is getting deeper, longer, faster, and much more athletic overall. When I speak of a “deeper” roster, one needs to look no further than the QB room to see evidence of this. In a few short years, the quarterback roster went from razor thin with no top-end option and even a bigger drop-off below that to a room full of high-end upside with multiple options, all of which have high-end potential. This influx of talent makes sorting out the future of the position a difficult challenge, but one that all Irish fans should welcome with open arms.
Let’s examine what all of the signal callers have to offer and where things stand as we settle in for a long summer leading into fall camp.
Riley Leonard
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Riley Leonard was brought to Notre Dame through the transfer portal in a big money NIL deal. By default, to me this indicated that he is the desired number 1 starter on the team by the staff. The issue though is that he’s been battling injury and recovery ever since arriving on campus.
There’s no doubt that Leonard’s inability to practice most of Spring is a major inconvenience. It means that once camp resumes in August, there will be a ton of extra work to do and very little time to get it accomplished before facing Texas A&M. If he’s healthy, he’ll be the starter. If not? That scenario will be explored shortly.
Steve Angeli
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Steve Angeli is beloved by Irish fans. He’s been a good soldier and has played very solid football primarily in the backup role. Once Leonard went down, he assumed the role of starter and practiced as such throughout the rest of Spring.
Does this mean he would start if Leonard goes down with another injury? It seems that way, but CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey would also like to throw their hat in the ring for this job. Angeli is an ultimate operator. Nothing he does “wows” you, he just operates the offense and does so admirably. But ultimately I feel Notre Dame is of the mindset that they want their QBs from now on to be more than operators, but rather plus players. Is Steve that?
Kenny Minchey
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Kenny Minchey finds himself in an uncomfortable spot on the Irish roster. He sits with transfer Riley Leonard and established backup Angeli in front of him and has highly touted and recruited CJ Carr and 25′ athletic freak Deuce Knight coming up behind him. Where does this leave Kenny?
Can he overtake some of the players currently positioned in front of him? If not, is he willing to assume his backup role for his entire career? Or will he explore portal options looking for a chance to be able to start? These are big questions without answers right now.
CJ Carr
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CJ Carr is a true Freshman who entered Notre Dame as a highly recruited signal caller coming from Michigan football program royalty with his grandfather being the legendary Lloyd Carr. In his short time at Notre Dame, he’s already receiving praise for the way he processes the game and delivers the ball with ease.
The question for 2024 is can Carr rise to the backup position purely based on undeniable merit? The only issue with this would be that Notre Dame will not want to play him in more than 4 games next season so that he can preserve a year of eligibility. Whether this occurs or not, he’s already positioned himself to compete for the number 1 job in 2025.
Deuce Knight
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Deuce Knight isn’t even on campus yet. He will descend upon South bend next year and brings with him elite physical gifts. The kind most Notre Dame fans have frankly never seen before at the quarterback position. This being said, he is very raw. He’s much more of an athlete than a quarterback at this point.
How long will it take Knight to adjust to college life and to polish up all of the QB “traits” as Kelly used to call them so that he can compete for the starting job? If Notre Dame is staring at a year-two CJ Carr vs a year-two Deuce Knight quarterback battle, it’ll be evidence of just how far Notre Dame has come. This room has been completely flipped from a weakness into a strength and however it goes from now on, it should be a vast improvement in high-end output from the most important individual position in sports.
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