Notre Dame 2025 Quarterback Preview: Irish QB Battle Continues

Notre Dame 2025 Quarterback Preview: Irish QB Battle Continues originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Notre Dame will start the season with a different quarterback for the sixth straight season, and as was true in each of the previous six seasons how that new starter performs will have a major impact on the season. Notre Dame has championship aspirations in 2025, but for that the happen the new starter will have to grow up in a hurry and show the leadership, maturity, decision making and playmaking ability needed to lead an offense capable of winning a title.

2025 ROSTER

RETURNING STATS

Kenny Minchey

2024: 4 snaps - 1-1, 4 yards / 2 carries, 12 yards, 1 TD
2023: 13 snaps - 2-2, 12 yards

CJ Carr

2024: 4 snaps

POSITION BATTLE CONTINUES

Notre Dame is going through its first real quarterback competition since 2018, and it began in the winter and through the spring. The spring performance of CJCarr and KennyMinchey made it clear that veteran SteveAngeli would not be the starter, and five days after the Blue-Gold Game he was in the portal.

Join the Notre Dame Champions Lounge for the latest intel and analysis of the Fighting Irish!

The battle continues into the summer and will surely rage at the beginning of fall camp. Carr and Minchey will compete to earn the starting role, and there's a chance that if Minchey is the runner up he could earn a situational role. 

There will be several factors that go into winning the starting job.

1) Who can be the most consistent performer? That is job number one for the quarterbacks, perform on a consistent level. It's not so much about completion percentage as it is moving the offense. Who can lead the offense to points on a more consistent basis. Who can make the best decisions on the most consistent basis, which gets the ball to the playmakers.

2) Who can command the offense at the highest level? Commanding the offense refers to leadership and also who can handle the system the best. Who commands the most confidence and trust from the rest of the offense? Who can show the best grasp of the offense, which allows the quarterback to get the unit into good looks and out of bad ones? Leadership comes from setting a good example, but it also comes from earning the trust of your teammates that you can set them up for success.

3) Who can limit the big mistakes? Turnovers are going to happen for all quarterbacks, and that's especially true for first-time starters. Both Minchey and Carr will turn the ball over in fall camp and the winner of the starting job will turn the ball over during the season. The two keys are keeping them to a level you can live with as an offense and also avoiding the really bad turnovers. The bad turnovers are the ones that come from panic, the ones that kill potential scoring drives, the ones that set up the opposition for easier scores and the ones that crush momentum in the biggest moments of the game. Big mistakes aren't just about turnovers, avoiding big mistakes also means not missing out on the opportunities to make big plays and clutch plays when they happen.

The ideal situation for Notre Dame is that one of the two quarterbacks quickly emerges as the clear cut winner of the competition. The worst case scenario is that the battle takes a long time because neither player really seizes hold of the opportunity. There are obviously areas in between. One of the more intriguing aspects of fall camp is which one of these scenarios plays out.

ROOKIE IMPACT

With Angeli gone the role of the No. 3 quarterback falls to true freshman BlakeHebert. He's quite raw in many ways, but Hebert has really impressive size (6-3, 225), a big arm and he kind of athleticism and running ability that can put defenses in a really tough spot. Hebert is a player that needs a redshirt season, but he's now an injury away from being the backup, and some really bad luck from being the starter. Position coach GinoGuidugli has a lot on his plate when it comes to developing Carr and Minchey, but he'll need to make sure he's bringing Hebert along as well. 

BIGGEST QUESTIONS

*** Is CJ Carr As Good As Advertised? - Carr came to Notre Dame with plenty of publicity thanks to his lineage and the fact he was ranked as a Top 50 player. He has impressed observers in each of the last two Blue-Gold Games, which has only raised optimism about his future. Carr completed 22-32 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns in the last two Blue-Gold Games. That's good for a 68.9-percent completion rate, 12.2 yards per completion, 8.4 yards per attempt and is good for a 164.05 quarterback rating. For context, those numbers would have ranked 11th (QBR), 16th (YPA) and 9th (efficiency) last season. 

If Carr can carry that into the season he'll emerge as one of the best young quarterbacks in the game and the Irish offense will be dangerous. But he'll need to be that player to live up to the hype, and even more importantly to lead the Irish on another deep playoff run.

*** Can Kenny Minchey Become A Playmaker? - Minchey has a very live arm and he's a smart young quarterback, and in limited opportunities he's also shown himself to be a playmaker. I'm not sure Minchey can match Carr throw for throw, but when you combine the impressive arm talent he does posses with his playmaking ability you have a quarterback capable of winning the starting battle. Minchey completed just 54.5-percent of his throws in the last two Blue-Gold Games and averaged just 6.9 yards per attempt, but he also averaged an impressive 12.7 yards per completion and also added 51 rushing yards and two more scores. Minchey's only action of the 2024 season ended with him running for a touchdown against Purdue.

If Minchey can continue improving his decision making, become a more consistent player and continue his playmaking he'll have a shot to win the job and lead the offense.

*** How Will The Offense Evolve? - Neither Carr nor Minchey plays the game the same way Leonard did. Yes, Minchey has shown running skills and Carr is a good athlete, but Leonard was on a different level as a runner. It would be unwise to run the offense in 2025 the way it ran in 2024. Fortunately for Notre Dame it has an offensive coordinator in MikeDenbrock with a long track record of building his offense to fit his personnel. The question isn't really whether or not Denbrock will adapt, he's proven he'll do that. The question is how will it adapt and evolve with the new quarterbacks.

There are plenty of things that both Carr and Minchey do well, but there are also aspects of their game that are different. A challenge for Denbrock will be determining who the starter is as early as possible and then adapting the offense to fit his skillset. Another part of that challenge will be having a game plan that is also suited for the backup should he enter the game.

*** Will QB Play Be Good Enough For Another Title Game Run? - Notre Dame needs its quarterback to play at a relatively high level this season, there's no doubt about that. But will the quarterback play be good enough for Notre Dame to make another deep playoff run? Will it be good enough for the Irish to finally get over the hump? Notre Dame doesn't need its quarterback to carry the offense the way Leonard did last season, but it does need the quarterback to mature quickly. Will that happen? We'll find out, but the answer to that will largely determine how good the Irish will be in 2025.

*** How Good Of A Position Coach Is Gino Guidugli? - For the first time in his tenure at Notre Dame, Guidugli will be tasked with showing off his ability to develop a young, unproven quarterback. He gets a chance to show off his coaching chops this season, and we'll find out if he's as good of a QB developer as MarcusFreeman thought he was when he was hired.

A SUCCESSFUL SEASON WOULD LOOK LIKE ....

One in which a starter quickly emerges, that player develops into a consistent decision maker, that player eventually turns into a playmaker and allows the play at the position to be steadily productive. It also means a season in which a brand new starter plays with more maturity than you think you'll get from a young player, limits the big mistakes and helps the pass offense become good enough to force defenses to respect that part of the game more than it has in recent seasons.

BOLD PREDICTION

The eventual starter throws for over 3,500 yards (for the entire season) and gets to 30-plus touchdowns. That's unrealistic to demand, but it's certainly reasonable for a bold prediction. My bold prediction has CJ Carr in mind, but if Minchey wins the job I'd simply change the 3,500 passing yards to 3,500 total yards.

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2025 Scholarship Chart
2025 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2026 Commits
Notre Dame 2026 Scholarship Offers

2025 Commit Rankings - Offense
2025 Commit Rankings - Defense

2024 Recruiting Class
2023 Recruiting Class
2022 Recruiting Class

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 14, 2025, where it first appeared.