Notre Dame Spring Preview: Quarterback
The quarterback position has been one that has created a great deal of frustration at Notre Dame over the last decade. Notre Dame just hasn't been able to get it right at the position, at least not enough to have an offense that was truly capable of playing at a championship level.
It remains to be seen if that is going to change in 2024, or any other time in the near future. There is much greater optimism surrounding the position this offseason. The arrival of Riley Leonard and CJ Carr, the emergence of Steve Angeli in 2023, and the obvious talent of Kenny Minchey has created the kind of depth of talent needed to finally get this position playing at a championship level.
Will that happen? We won't know until the fall, but the spring is going to give us our first look at where this group is, and whether or not it has what it takes to play at an elite level.
Let's begin the quarterback preview with a first glance look at the projected depth chart.
PROJECTED SPRING DEPTH CHART
RETURNING PRODUCTION
Riley Leonard 2023 (7 games) - 95-165, 57.6%, 1,102 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT - 352 rushing yards, 4 TD
Riley Leonard 2022 (13 games) - 250-392, 63.8%, 2,967 yards, 20 TD, 6 INT - 699 rush yards, 13 TD
Steve Angeli - 34-44, 77.3%, 504 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT - 27 rush yards
Kenny Minchey - 2-2, 100.0%, 12 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Leonard was injured in the fifth game of Duke's 2023 season (against Notre Dame). Prior to the injury he was completing 62.7% of his passes. He completed just 16-39 passes in the two games after the injury before being shut down. In 18 starts before the injury completed 63.5% of his passes, which shows a much, much better reflection of his completion rate than the two games while playing with an ankle and foot injury that was bad enough to eventually end his season.
Angeli has just one career start, but in that start he completed 15-19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns, leading Notre Dame to a 40-8 victory over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.
RILEY LEONARD CHANGES THINGS
The minute the Notre Dame season ended it seemed apparent that Duke quarterback Riley Leonard would be the team's top portal target, as long as he eventually jumped in. As soon as he did the Irish became the expected landing spot, and that's exactly what happened despite Ohio State and Auburn trying hard to get interest from the dual threat quarterback.
Landing Leonard changes things for Notre Dame. Not only does it mean the Irish will have a new starting quarterback, the style of play at the position will be vastly different from what we've seen for much of the last decade. Leonard has arm talent, and he's flashed it in his 20 starts for the Blue Devils, but it's his dynamic dual-threat ability that will create the biggest change.
Outside of three starts with Tyler Buchner back in 2022, the Notre Dame quarterback position has been dominated by drop back passers the last six seasons. Ian Book was a good scrambler, but he was rarely used as a part of the run game. That will likely change with Leonard, who rushed for 1,025 yards and 17 touchdowns in his first 18 starts prior to the injury. Yes, Leonard can do damage as a scrambler as well, but his ability to be used as a weapon in the run game will dramatically change how teams defend the Irish offense.
There are parts of his throwing game that will need to be improved a bit, and we should get a glimpse of those adjustments this spring. Leonard is still healing up from the ankle injury he suffered against the Irish, which could result in the Irish staff focusing more on what he adds to the passing game this spring than what he brings to the run game. With technical focus this spring being on his footwork, and his mental focus being on learning and mastering the Irish offense, Leonard could develop into a more consistent thrower.
Leonard has the talent to be the game changer that Notre Dame needs, and he's not very far away if he plays like he did in 2022. If Leonard becomes a more consistent thrower, combining that with his ability to make big plays with his arm and ability to impact the game with his legs, he could emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
The talent is there, the spring will give us our first glimpse at where Leonard is in that journey.
BIG SPRING FOR STEVE ANGELI
It's no secret that I am not that high on Angeli as a quarterback, at least from the standpoint of having the ability to lead a championship caliber offense. For his part, Angeli has done his best so far to make my view of him look incredibly misguided, to say the least.
Angeli locked down the backup quarterback role last season, and his first career start showed a lot of promise. Angeli showed a willingness to attack down the field, the ability to effectively manage the offense, and an ability to use his legs to move the chains. Angeli plays with a high level of confidence, and he possesses a solid combination of arm talent and athleticism.
He enters spring in pole position for the backup quarterback job, which is the only real battle taking place this spring. The winner of that battle is going to enter next spring in pole position to win the starting job once Leonard leaves for the NFL.
Angeli is going to be pushed this spring by younger players with better physical talent, but the New Jersey native has shown he has some of the intangibles needed to get the most out of his physical tools. If he can hold off the younger players this spring, or even create more distance, he'll have a good shot of holding onto the backup role in the fall.
YOUNG TALENT IS IMPRESSIVE
Talented sophomore Kenny Minchey and big time freshman CJ Carr aren't going to just sit back, relax and let Angeli hold onto the backup role. Both are going to push him this spring, and the battle could make all three quarterbacks better. At the very least it will show who the true competitors are, and who is able to shine under pressure.
Minchey has big time arm talent, and the 2023 season gave him a chance to heal up and get his feet wet. All the quarterbacks will be learning a new offense, so the year advantage that Angeli had going into last season isn't as great now. A year in the weight room will hopefully allow Minchey to reshape his body a bit, which should allow him to move even better.
For Minchey, being a bit more assertive will be the key for him. When he plays with purpose he can be outstanding, and sources inside the program said he started to show that late in the season. He'll need to build on that this spring in order to push, and potentially beat out Angeli for the backup role. The arm talent is there, he's also lauded as being a smart quarterback, but now Minchey has to put it all together.
None of the quarterbacks on the roster brings the reputation to the table that freshman CJ Carr does. It could be argued that none of the quarterbacks possess his arm talent, either. Like Minchey, Carr is a very smart quarterback that should pickup the offense quickly. He is a very accurate quarterback with the kind of overall game that should allow him to complete passes at a very high level. At the very least Carr has the tools to be a high level game manager that can thrive in the RPO game that Mike Denbrock is bringing to the table.
The question with Carr is can he make the big time throws down the field, and make the tightly contested throws to be more of an elite playmaker. That will determine if Carr will be the big time quarterback that Notre Dame recruited him to be. Even though its his first spring, it's a big one for Carr. he has the talent to eventually become the backup behind Leonard, but the other quarterbacks have the talent to pull away from him as well if he doesn't pick things up quickly.
Needless to say, watching the young quarterbacks develop and battle this spring is going to be fun.
BIGGEST SPRING QUESTIONS
Here are my biggest questions about the quarterbacks heading into the spring.
1. Will Leonard's injury linger - Reports are that Leonard's ankle injury won't be an issue for him the fall, but I will still want to see it. Sometimes these things linger, and sometimes once it's fully healed there are no more issues. For a quarterback that relies on his legs as much as Leonard does, this is a big question.
2. How will Leonard adapt to Denbrock's offense - Leonard has the physical tools to thrive in Denbrock's offense, which has flourished with dual-threat quarterbacks that are willing to take some chances. The potential is there for him to dominate in this offense, but he'll have to pick up the terminology quickly, quickly figure out the reads, and develop the necessary timing and rhythm to thrive as a passer in this offense. Yes, he has the tools to be great in this offense, but we still need to see it.
3. Does Angeli have another jump in him - Angeli made a big jump in his second season in the offense, but he'll need to make another one if he's going to hold off the younger players and eventually emerge as the team's starter.
4. Which young player will emerge as the top contender - Minchey and Carr are both going to get plenty of opportunities to battle Angeli. The veteran won't go down without a fight, and the young players will need to be at their best if they want to have any chance to beat him out. I'm curious to see if either one of these two young players can surpass Angeli, but first they need to battle each other for the hierarchy for that spot.
5. How quickly can this group get on the same page with the pass catchers - Notre Dame has five newcomers at wide receiver and tight end this spring, and other players that battled injury last season will also be out there this spring. The quarterbacks will need to get on the same page with the new-look receiving corps, and how quickly this happens (or doesn't) will have a big impact on the spring performance of the offense.
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