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SOUTH BEND —Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman said Wednesday that at no point in the five weeks of spring practice was he ever tempted to name a starting quarterback.
“It was never put into a situation where I felt we needed to do that,” Freeman said. “If one person clearly showed that he was going to be the only answer to making sure we had the most opportunity to have success, we would have named one. We had three guys who were performing really, really well for 14 practices.”
With fourth-year backup Steve Angeli entering the transfer portal on April 17, that opened the door for redshirt freshman CJ Carr and redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey to carry their battle through summer conditioning and fall camp.
“We’ll continue the competition with two guys as we move forward,” Freeman said. “Both, we believe, have the ability to be the starting quarterback. Both have done a tremendous job improving through spring practice. Every single quarterback has improved. It was awesome to see.”
More first-team practice repetitions should be available come fall camp, and those will be analyzed quite carefully as the 2025 season opener on Aug. 31 at Miami approaches.
“It's just tough when you have limited reps to truly say somebody separated themselves,” Freeman said. “There were certain days they would get 12 team reps each. It's not many, and that's probably why I said it's hard to have a true three-quarterback battle in fall camp. Just not enough reps to go around.”
Minchey is 3-for-3 as a passer in game situations, while Carr took four garbage-time snaps in the blowout win at Purdue last September.
“You talk about two guys that don't have much, if any, real-game experience,” Freeman said. “The thing you can create when you have a competition — a true competition, where it's 50-50 (and) you have to battle it out — is some of that pressure that a real game presents.”
Look who's QB (maybe): Tyler Buchner could move back to old spot for Notre Dame football
Whether that’s the so-called “opener” that starts each practice or third-down and red-zone situations against new coordinator Chris Ash’s defense, the heat will be turned up come August.
Freeman said the plan is to ensure “that the first time they feel that pressure isn't going to be when we play Miami.”
“You have to perform in practice,” Freeman said, “because you understand if you don't perform consistently, that other guy's pretty good and he might take off with this race.”
Steve Angeli: Down to 2: Notre Dame football loses QB to transfer portal
While Angeli is reportedly set to visit Syracuse, which visits Notre Dame Stadium for Senior Day this fall, Freeman cited “decision-making” as foremost among the attributes Carr and Minchey showed in spring practice.
“Are you making the right decisions is probably the most important thing,” Freeman said. “Delivering the ball, the ability to create plays, maybe when things are breaking down, and taking care of the football. Those are the things that we really evaluate, and they’ve done a tremendous job in doing that.”
Carr threw the lone interception of the Blue-Gold Game on April 12, while the April 5 indoor scrimmage saw Minchey picked off on a quick slant.
“I try not to be so outcome-driven —what’s the completion percentage? —because so many things go into that,” Freeman said. “But are we making the right decisions, are we making the right checks, are we eliminating self-inflicted wounds? And ultimately, are we taking care of the football? I thought all of our quarterbacks really did a good job of that.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman talks looming QB battle
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“It was never put into a situation where I felt we needed to do that,” Freeman said. “If one person clearly showed that he was going to be the only answer to making sure we had the most opportunity to have success, we would have named one. We had three guys who were performing really, really well for 14 practices.”
With fourth-year backup Steve Angeli entering the transfer portal on April 17, that opened the door for redshirt freshman CJ Carr and redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey to carry their battle through summer conditioning and fall camp.
“We’ll continue the competition with two guys as we move forward,” Freeman said. “Both, we believe, have the ability to be the starting quarterback. Both have done a tremendous job improving through spring practice. Every single quarterback has improved. It was awesome to see.”
More first-team practice repetitions should be available come fall camp, and those will be analyzed quite carefully as the 2025 season opener on Aug. 31 at Miami approaches.
“It's just tough when you have limited reps to truly say somebody separated themselves,” Freeman said. “There were certain days they would get 12 team reps each. It's not many, and that's probably why I said it's hard to have a true three-quarterback battle in fall camp. Just not enough reps to go around.”
Minchey is 3-for-3 as a passer in game situations, while Carr took four garbage-time snaps in the blowout win at Purdue last September.
“You talk about two guys that don't have much, if any, real-game experience,” Freeman said. “The thing you can create when you have a competition — a true competition, where it's 50-50 (and) you have to battle it out — is some of that pressure that a real game presents.”
Look who's QB (maybe): Tyler Buchner could move back to old spot for Notre Dame football
Turning up the heat on Notre Dame QBs
Whether that’s the so-called “opener” that starts each practice or third-down and red-zone situations against new coordinator Chris Ash’s defense, the heat will be turned up come August.
Freeman said the plan is to ensure “that the first time they feel that pressure isn't going to be when we play Miami.”
“You have to perform in practice,” Freeman said, “because you understand if you don't perform consistently, that other guy's pretty good and he might take off with this race.”
Steve Angeli: Down to 2: Notre Dame football loses QB to transfer portal
While Angeli is reportedly set to visit Syracuse, which visits Notre Dame Stadium for Senior Day this fall, Freeman cited “decision-making” as foremost among the attributes Carr and Minchey showed in spring practice.
“Are you making the right decisions is probably the most important thing,” Freeman said. “Delivering the ball, the ability to create plays, maybe when things are breaking down, and taking care of the football. Those are the things that we really evaluate, and they’ve done a tremendous job in doing that.”
Carr threw the lone interception of the Blue-Gold Game on April 12, while the April 5 indoor scrimmage saw Minchey picked off on a quick slant.
“I try not to be so outcome-driven —what’s the completion percentage? —because so many things go into that,” Freeman said. “But are we making the right decisions, are we making the right checks, are we eliminating self-inflicted wounds? And ultimately, are we taking care of the football? I thought all of our quarterbacks really did a good job of that.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman talks looming QB battle
Continue reading...
