Notre Dame football: The Fighting Irish's lengthy starting quarterback battle begins

Notre Dame football spring practices began on Wednesday. With it, began one of the most important competitions of the 2025 season before the Irish could even play a game.

With Riley Leonard's departure to the NFL, the College Football Playoff runner-up Irish need a quarterback to pilot a team that's coming off a miraculous run to the national championship game.

This is new territory for Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman. He had a competition in 2022 when Tyler Buchner won the starting job in early August before Week 1. In the last two years, he hand-picked his starting quarterback from the transfer portal.

This time, the competition has three players vying for the top of the depth chart who are home-grown talents.

"It is the first true competition with three guys that I've been a part of," Freeman said.

Still, those who know the three players competing have all the confidence in them.

"The Notre Dame quarterback room's in good hands," former Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans said at the NFL Combine. "Whoever's going to be the guy next year going in the fall, the team's going to do good."

Here's what to know about Notre Dame's quarterback competition.

Meet the three contenders

When considering the potential quarterbacks of the future for Notre Dame, it's best to hear from those who know best.

Evans was asked about the quarterback battle at the NFL Combine, and he went in-depth on all three of the quarterbacks who could earn the starting job for the 2025 season. Those players are CJ Carr, Kenny Michey and Steve Angeli.

The leader early on could be Angeli, who has been in the Irish program since 2022. He started the 2023 Sun Bowl, completing 15 of his 19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns. He also came in the Orange Bowl when Leonard left late in the first half and completed six of seven pass attempts for 44 yards on a drive that resulted in a field goal to end the half which gave the Irish life in the eventual College Football Playoff semifinal win.

"Steve's been there first as long as I remember," Mitchell said. He is a dog, he's been through the rough and whenever his numbers were called, he's been reliable. He's been dependable."

Minchey is another player who knows the program. He's been with Notre Dame since 2023. Evans sees Minchey's athleticism as the edge he brings to the competition.

"Kenny, he's an all-around great athlete, a great player," Michell said. "I think it'd be kind of hard to game plan against him. It'd be another version of Riley I feel like."

While Minchey and Angeli have been with the program for multiple years, Carr could be the player with the highest ceiling. He redshirted his freshman year in 2024 while nursing an elow injury.

But, the players with the Irish in 2024 saw the potential. 

"He's a young prodigy," Mitchell said. "There's a lot of talk about him and I kind of believe it, just seeing the way he works, seeing the way he kind of handles himself."

Why it's going to be a lengthy process

Freeman did not have a timeframe for this quarterback competition. He doesn't think it'll be resolved in the spring, either. 

There's no real rush to find the next QB1. That's because there's no reason to rush the process.

Freeman said each quarterback will get their chance to compete with the first-team offense. Then, the staff will be upfront and honest with the quarterbacks, which includes giving them feedback about what to improve on.

Each quarterback will get their shot. Notre Dame wants to be as thorough as possible. With the Irish returning so many pieces from a team that went to the national championship game just last year, Notre Dame knows what it has on both sides of the ball. It's about fitting the right piece of the puzzle.

Freeman has the spring and summer to figure that out.

"We’ll name a starter when a starter clearly shows that he’s the best quarterback," Freeman said.

This a chance for CJ Carr to live up to his recruiting profile

This spring, Carr is expected to compete for the starting quarterback job now that he's healthy.

The Irish's highly rated freshman quarterback hurt his elbow in September of the 2024 season. In December, Carr was close to 100%. Now, he's ready to show he's the future at quarterback for the Irish.

Carr is the highest-rated Notre Dame quarterback recruit since the Irish landed Jimmy Clausen in 2007. Clausen wasn't a bust – he was an eventual second-round pick and played a stint with the Bears – but his recruiting profile meant the Irish were thinking of big wins and memorable moments. What materialized was the end of the Charlie Weis era.

Freeman landing Carr wasn't just a win for the quarterback room, it was a massive recruiting victory. Carr had offers from LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Penn State and Michigan. The Wolverines are a legacy school for Carr, too. Lloyd Carr, CJ's grandfather, coached Michigan from 1995 to 2007 and won a national championship in Ann Arbor.

Lloyd's grandson might be the quarterback to bring a national title to Michigan's arch rival.

Now that Carr is healthy, he can use the lessons he's learned from his first season in South Bend to his benefit as he looks to earn the starting job, which was a moment Irish fans envisioned when he committed to the program. 

Notre DameNCAACollege FootballSports