Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 JUNE/JULY 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM EXPERIENCE MATTERS I am a longtime reader of Blue & Gold Illustrated. In the May issue, you broke down the Defense Scholarship Depth Chart. Kahanu Kia, back from his mis- sion, is listed as So./4. I seem to remem- ber during his freshman year that he played on special teams for more than four games. Shouldn't he be listed as So./3? Christopher Kashnig '72 Great catch, Christopher. His bio at FightingIrish .com only noted two ap- pearances and the roster lists him as a sophomore with freshman eligibility. However, upon closer review, he made eight game appearances, primarily on special teams, and finished with 7 tack- les in 2021 before going on his two-year Mormon mission. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters, Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com Fighting Irish fans emerged from the Blue-Gold Game in April feeling pretty optimistic about Notre Dame's quarterback room — which includes senior Riley Leonard, junior Steve Angeli, sophomore Kenny Minchey and freshman CJ Carr — heading into the 2024 season. Here is a sampling of some of those opinions on our message board at BlueandGold.com following the spring game. Mizzo: Let's play a guessing game here. Let's say ND struck out with a QB in the portal. Having all offseason and this spring knowing a QB1 was not predetermined, who would you guys have as QB1 going into Texas A&M? Seeing what I saw in the spring game, Carr is by far the most complete and heady QB on the roster, but he's young. He hasn't had the kitchen sink thrown at him yet, and for that I hope when his time comes, he has a few games under his belt by then to get his ultimate confidence high. Angeli is Angeli, IMO. Very smart QB that could probably start at many D1 schools and he just seems very calm and collect to boot. Has that sneaky "could be a future pro bowler" type feel to him. Minchey to me is the wild card. This kid has an arm and has some wheels as well. The ultimate type of athlete you want to see maxed out with a few years left to wreak havoc. Unfortunately there's going to be an odd man out, and hopefully timing doesn't backfire on us as you really don't know what you have until the lights come on. Hope this makes sense MegaZutar: It should be interesting to see all the opinions on this one. Overall, I like your generalizations for each. Based on how he has looked, I would like to consider possibly starting Carr, but I can't see him making up enough ground not to start Angeli heading into College Station. For me, it would depend on how much of a gambler the coaching staff is for Game 1. I think Minchey will leave this summer, and then Angeli will follow suit next year. Leonard starts this year, with Angeli filling in, and then Carr starts at home against A&M in '25. The wild card is what that might do to Knight's commitment. I think Deuce needs two years to develop, and that should fit nicely with Carr potentially playing well enough to leave after '26. Kcndmis97: Given this hypothetical scenario, I see this as a possible 2018 revisit. If you recall, [Brandon] Wimbush started 2018, against Michigan as we needed a more veteran QB to navigate their fierce pass rush. Wimbush did that successfully and then was given the chance to win the job against Vandy and Ball State … he failed. That's when [Ian] Book took over. I would do the same, start Angeli against A&M, but then move onto Carr or Minchey. To me, Minchey is more of a gunslinger but you don't want a young gunslinger as he will probably lose 2 games for you just due to his mentality. I would go with Carr in about Week 4 because he has the higher upside. I would also have Minchey as #2 and tell Angeli he is running #3 and thus he will hit the portal in December. apegambino: I'm going Minchey or Carr because of the upside. Angeli is solid but it is Year 3 and you still rarely see him come off his first read. Crash_Davis_8: With no Leonard on the roster I think the entire dynamic of the competition changes … meaning, you'd have all of Angeli, Minchey and Carr taking equal reps with the 1s, 2s, etc. IMO, Minchey and Carr would have quickly separated themselves from Angeli in a scenario like that. And I'm just not seeing what was described in the OP … Minchey is not a "wild card" any more than Carr … Minchey was every bit as good as Carr — I actually liked what Minchey did more than Carr. Charlestonirish25: I think there would've been a bigger competition (obvi- ously). Based on his experience, and the red jersey Saturday, I think Angeli was more of a given as a backup than he would've been as a starter in your scenario. My guess is Minchey would've won the job with potential for the Carr calls to loudly persist into the season. Juicy J: Our defense, running game, and overall talent can win that game so long as the QB doesn't screw it up. We beat a bunch of ranked teams, including Clemson, in 2022 with Drew Pyne. I would trust Angeli's maturity and Denbrock's savvy not to screw it up. Minchey's fearlessness would be nice to have in a road game, he'd probably have some nice downfield completions and make some great plays with his feet but … We'd also risk a pick six or two. The risk/reward with Minchey is too high. Carr — even with his maturity and talent level, I'd worry about those bright lights on the road for an 18-year-old kid. I would start Angeli and if it went really poorly I would put Carr in. Carr's ac- curacy and poise is lower risk than Minchey's hero-ball moments. Carr's ability to throw downfield and, especially, on the run, opens up the playbook for Denbrock. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com There is plenty to like about the depth in Notre Dame's quarterback room. From left to right, junior Steve Angeli, sophomore Kenny Minchey, fresh- man CJ Carr and senior Riley Leonard. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! New subscribers: Use Promo Code GoIrish2024 To SAVE 25% off your first year!