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The Notre Dame football team has a quarterback competition on its hands this offseason as Riley Leonard was taken in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. Leonard led the Fighting Irish to the national championship game last year. Now, sophomore Kenny Minchey and redshirt freshman CJ Carr are competing for the starting job. There isn't a lot of experience between the two, and according to Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, we could see the Fighting Irish go with a unique approach at the position.
So far, it doesn't sound like there has been a lot of separation between CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey. They also both bring certain attributes to the table. Is there a chance that they both get significant playing time for Notre Dame next season?
“You’re going to look for any way to help your team win,” Freeman said during an appearance on Always College Football with Greg McElroy. “And if that means you use two quarterbacks for certain situations, then you’re going to find a way to use two quarterbacks. That might mean two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. Who knows?”
At the end of the day, there is going to be a guy that separates himself and wins the starting job. That doesn't mean that the other QB won't see the field, however.
“Creativity is so important, and we have some creative football coaches and players here,” Freeman continued. “We’ll come up with the right plan. You’re going to have one starter. You’re going to have one guy that’s going to be your quarterback. But I could see us using both quarterbacks to find a way to help us win.”
There was originally a third member of this competition, but Steve Angeli transferred to Syracuse in the spring. Now, the Notre Dame football QB competition is down to two, and Freeman saw some great things from both players during spring ball.
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“We’ve got two guys that were really battling with Steve in the spring with CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey,” Freeman added. “And both did really good things. Both, as you evaluate the quarterback position, have an extremely high ceiling. They both do things really, really well and they do them differently. Our job is to say, who’s going to give us the best chance to win as we get ready to face an opponent? And those questions will be answered by the quarterbacks during fall camp.”
This QB competition is going to be settled during fall camp, and Marcus Freeman is looking forward to an intense battle.
“I love it because I love competition,” he said. “Now, you can add a little bit of pressure through competition to see who can perform under those high-pressure situations. I think they’re both capable of being the starting quarterback at Notre Dame or they wouldn’t be in this quarterback battle. But I’m looking forward to an extremely challenging and high-pressure fall camp.”
The Notre Dame football team came just short of winning a national title last year. Can CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey get the team over the hump?
