CJ Carr shines in Notre Dame spring game, rising to the top of the QB competition

New York Times

12-04-2025

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Marcus Freeman won't rush his quarterback decision. There's no point in microwaving the biggest decision Notre Dame's head coach will make before kickoff at Miami on Labor Day weekend. There's no upside in rushing judgment, potentially upending the quarterback room before the transfer portal opens next week, not when the competition among Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr can extend into training camp.
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As the Blue-Gold Game showed on Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame has three quarterbacks who could start this season, the follow-up to that run to the national championship game. And all three could be good enough to keep the Irish in contention for a return to the College Football Playoff, considering the roster talent assembled. The Irish may have one of the nation's best offensive lines and top defensive backfields. It might have the nation's top running back. The linebacker and defensive-end rooms are CFP-level. It's just the quarterback position that has to get settled.
'It's crazy to think that you've got three guys that all can lead the program to a victory and be your starting quarterback,' Freeman said. 'So we'll evaluate it. We'll talk about it and have a discussion moving forward.'
But the point of Notre Dame football these days is no longer 'lead the program to a victory' after last season's back-to-back wins over Georgia and Penn State before running aground against Ohio State. The point is to win the game Notre Dame lost on Jan. 20. And for one afternoon, at least, it was hard to look at Notre Dame's three quarterbacks and not see the one with potential that rises above the other two.
Angeli and Minchey were good. Carr was better.
Not so much better than Freeman can't keep a straight face while talking up a quarterback competition that will follow Notre Dame out of spring practice. But Carr is better enough that he suddenly feels a bit inevitable, if not on opening night against the Hurricanes, then at some point during what could be a return to the CFP.
1️⃣3️⃣ ➡️8️⃣5️⃣@13Cjcarr | @jacklarsen35 #GoIrish☘️ | @meijer pic.twitter.com/DgKMZIjb5R
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) April 12, 2025
If spring game statistics mean anything, Carr went 14-of-19 for 170 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Minchey went 6-of-14 for 106 yards and a rushing touchdown followed by a backflip. Angeli finished 8-of-11 for 108 yards and a touchdown while hitting his final six throws. All three quarterbacks looked like college starters. That doesn't mean they all looked the same.
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'I don't know where it's headed, but they're all doing really good things, and whoever it is, is going to do a good job,' said tight end Eli Raridon. 'They're all playing at a very high level. If I were to make a decision, I wouldn't know who to pick either. It's definitely a hard decision for (the coaches), and whoever it is will do a good job.'
This is all new territory for Freeman, who didn't pretend to stage a quarterback competition last season when Riley Leonard arrived from Duke and then missed virtually all of spring practice. That competition was over before it started. It's different from two years ago, too, when Freeman insisted Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman and Tyler Buchner were engaged in a quarterback competition exiting spring practice, which convinced no one, especially Buchner, who entered the portal roughly 72 hours after being out-classed by Hartman.
The evidence for Carr is neither overwhelming nor complete. Notre Dame had just two open practices during spring ball. Carr was good in the first, including a walk-off touchdown to Elijah Burress. But the other two quarterbacks were good too. Carr was great Saturday, including a walk-off touchdown to Xavier Southall. Combined with Carr's practice showings last spring, when he flashed in both an open practice and the Blue-Gold Game, rising above the competition is now a habit.
On Saturday, the sophomore feathered passes to tight ends Kevin Bauman and Jack Larsen, throwing both open when coverage said otherwise. Carr's accuracy means he doesn't have to take what the defense gives him as much as he can create space with his arm. If Angeli and Minchey can operate a passing game, it feels like Carr can conduct one.
'You would like to be able to kind of go into the fall with a two-quarterback battle. It's really hard with truly having a three-quarterback battle,' Freeman said. 'But we got to sit down and have conversations about what's best for our program, what's best for our quarterbacks, and we'll make those decisions in the future.'
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There's little point in searching for verbal tells about how Freeman describes the competition, but that might as well be one. If Notre Dame were to cut the competition to two quarterbacks exiting spring practice, there is no world in which Carr is not part of the conversation. It's a harder call with Minchey and Angeli.
'We'll go back and watch, but it was a reflection of how the first 11 practices have been,' Freeman said. 'Those guys have been battling, they've all improved. They're all doing some really good things.'
One just happens to be doing potentially great things, which changes the calculus on how Freeman wants to make this quarterback call. There's a world where Angeli is the safe pick, considering his experience against Penn State and his spot start in the Sun Bowl. That prior knowledge would never win the job on its own, but it could make him the comfortable pick on opening night. Little from Freeman's breakthrough season suggests he'll play it safe.
Notre Dame marched to the national title game on the strength of fourth-down conversions, fake punts and lots of man-to-man defense that left the secondary without a safety net. Freeman wanted to build an aggressive mindset, demanding it in practice and calling it on game day. This is the same coach who wasn't scared to take an offensive line with six career starts and run it out at Kyle Field, benching two returning starters in camp because he believed in the younger talent despite its inexperience.
Now Freeman might have to make a similar call, but it's got a lot more weight behind it than choosing an offensive guard. Angeli or Minchey could start the year, and the Irish would probably be just fine. But if Carr's performance on Saturday is any clue, he could turn Notre Dame's season into something bigger.
No, Freeman doesn't need to rush this call. Even with the portal about to open, time appears to be on Notre Dame's side with Carr, Angeli and Minchey. But after Saturday's performance by Carr, it's difficult to look at the former national prospect and not see the flickers of a quarterback this program has been waiting on.
Would it be a difficult decision to start a quarterback with four career snaps and zero career pass attempts at Miami? Of course. But choosing hard isn't just a catchphrase for Freeman. It's standard operating procedure. And after Saturday, a quarterback competition he's in no rush to decide took a step toward the kind of conclusion Freeman always knew could be possible.