On Tuesday, Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame finally announced who would be the starting quarterback for the Irish in 2025 — and it’s sophomore CJ Carr getting the nod over junior Kenny Minchey.
BUT WAIT — THERE’S MORE!
Or is there?
Notre Dame’s quarterback battle has been ongoing since they walked off the field against Ohio State in January. The Irish started with three in Steve Angeli, CJ Carr, and Kenny Minchey. Angeli didn’t win it in the spring,
so he decided to transfer to Syracuse — a place which he was just named QB1 a few days ago.
One of the main points I tried to get across in the spring was that if Angeli wasn’t QB1 in the spring — he would bolt. I didn’t think he would want to take the risk of trying to win it in the fall and essentially “waste” a year of eligibility. Maybe that’s just a nice thought, but he actually finished third. Well, maybe.
There was no unanimous group mindthink about who was the leader coming out of spring, although I would say that the general consensus was that Carr had a bit of an edge (more in my book than in others). When the competition got DEEP into fall camp, the word started to go around that it was actually Kenny Minchey that was the one with the slight edge.
As it turned out… it all mattered until it didn’t. Notre Dame announced that CJ Carr is QB1 moving forward — which is where most people were at in the spring.
While there are probably a few more hand-wringers out there than at the start of August because of the length and secrecy of the competition, I have the feeling that Marcus and Mike Denbrock (and Gino Guidugli) have the confidence of a tall man with this decision.
We will talk much more about this on the next podcast, but again… I’m not sure the background matters as much as the outcome.
Notre Dame has started the season with a new quarterback in each of its last four seasons, which makes this the fifth in five seasons. The last returning full season starter was Ian Book in 2020 after a full season in 2019 — and his own controversial rise from QB2 in 2018. Three of those four quarterbacks were transfers, and now the Irish dip back into its homegrown talent.
There’s a page that’s being turned here — regardless of it being Carr or Minchey. You can’t say this often in South Bend, but it’s a new era of Notre Dame Football, and it’s unfolding in front of our eyes.
SAS.
