Could Kenny Minchey Be the Answer to Notre Dame’s Quarterback Future?

Saturday night turned into one of those fall nights during the college football season.

You know the ones I'm talking about - great finish here, outstanding end there, and enough back-and-forth on your TV to make your head spin - for all the right reasons.

One of those games was Kentucky's overtime upset of LSU, 35-34. The Wildcats won the game when former Notre Dame backup quarterback Kenny Minchey ran a keeper up the middle to stun Lane Kiffin and the Tigers.

Minchey joined new Kentucky head football coach Will Stein after entering the transfer portal last winter and has found instant success.

Kenny Minchey Leading Kentucky Turnaround

Minchey has helped guide Kentucky to an improbable 5-1 start, which includes wins over two teams that were ranked in the top 10 this year.

Minchey threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns in Kentucky's upset win at No. 9 Texas A&M on September 19, and threw for 246 more yards and rushed for a touchdown in Saturday's upset of No. 10 LSU.

For reference, Notre Dame won just three games over top-10 teams in the 12 years Brian Kelly was head coach.

Kenny Minchey is having an unbelievable season.

He nearly won Notre Dame's starting quarterback job over CJ Carr last year. The rest of the college football world is seeing why. pic.twitter.com/L4qAdaSl2a
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56) October 11, 2026

For the year, Minchey has completed 67.4% of his pass attempts for 1,394 yards and 11 touchdowns while throwing just one interception to date.

Kentucky has a tough trip to Oklahoma coming up this weekend and has difficult matchups remaining at Tennessee and Missouri both, but six weeks into 2026, who would have thought Kentucky had legitimate playoff hopes?

Marcus Freeman on Kenny Minchey

After Notre Dame fired Stanford into the sun Saturday, head coach Marcus Freeman was able to get home in time to see the end of the Kentucky's thrilling upset.

On Monday, Freeman spoke about how much respect he keeps for Minchey.

"I couldn't be more proud for him," said Freeman. "Kenny is a dang good quarterback and a heck of a football player. I hope he continues to have that success."

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

I'm certainly not the first person that has had this thought cross my mind, but does Freeman have more than just a rooting interest in Minchey?

A few short years ago Tyler Buchner transferred out of Notre Dame to an SEC program (Alabama) in order get a better chance to start at quarterback. That didn't work out for Buchner and he wound up back at Notre Dame in a reserve wide receiver and quarterback spot.

Minchey has had more success in six weeks than Buchner had in his entire season at Alabama, but we know how these things tend to work.

I'm not saying Marcus Freeman or anyone from Notre Dame has reached out to Minchey or his people about coming back to South Bend next year after CJ Carr likely heads to the NFL.

Notre Dame brought in both Noah Grubbs and Teddy Jarrard as quarterbacks in the 2026 recruiting cycle. While both have potential, are either enough to make Notre Dame a championship contender next fall?

I'd like to be wrong, but it seems safe to assume they'd both be significant questions.

Kenny takes it himself 💪#GoIrish☘️ | @kenny_minchey pic.twitter.com/MyJYrLh1dx
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 22, 2025

We can all be adults and realize that what happens in the transfer portal tends to largely start well before the window officially opens.

I'm not saying Kenny Minchey won't be back at Kentucky again next fall, but I'm not convinced the door of his career at Notre Dame is entirely slammed shut, either.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

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