Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2025 17 in 2022 when Buchner was injured from Week 3 through the end of November. Pyne went 8-2 and logged one of the best season-long passer ratings in Notre Dame history, so there wasn't ever any conver- sation about replacing him with Angeli. Angeli sat and studied instead. He saw what Pyne did well and what he didn't. Same with Hartman and Leonard. And when it was his time to mop up for any of them in garbage time, and he did so admirably. Beyond so. His numbers at Notre Dame will forever be 58-of-80 passing (72.5 percent) for 772 yards with 10 touchdowns and 1 interception. His career passer rating is 192.3. Pyne's in 2022 was 155.3. In Angeli's lone start, he completed 15 of 19 throws for 232 yards with 3 touch- downs and 0 interceptions against Or- egon State in Notre Dame's 40-8 vic- tory in the Sun Bowl. The only reason he wasn't the MVP is because it went to one of his wide receivers, Jordan Faison. Thanks, Steve. The most important of Angeli's 58 completed passes weren't thrown in El Paso. They were thrown on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in January, with Notre Dame's back against the wall against Penn State in the Orange Bowl. Angeli connected on 6 of 7 attempts and got Notre Dame in position to put its first points on the board just before halftime in the form of a Mitch Jeter field goal. In a game that finished with a margin of … a Mitch Jeter field goal … well, do the math. Angeli's brief stint on the playing surface in Miami Gar- dens, Fla., might've saved Notre Dame's dream season. If it wasn't a savior, it was vitally im- portant. Not a savior but vitally important. That's how some might remember An- geli's entire time at Notre Dame. His vital importance, outside of the two — just two — games in which the weight of the world was on his shoulders will come about in a way that affects Notre Dame long after he's gone. The Irish never needed saving in Angeli's three years with the program. Head coach Marcus Freeman proved to know enough about what he was doing to guide the Irish to an 11-1 regular-sea- son record by Year 3, inexplicable losses along the way be darned. His record has improved in every year of his tenure, and he's already played for a national championship. Expectations are that he'll play for more. Still, there's been a ceiling at the quarterback spot. Neither Hartman nor Leonard lit it up in a Notre Dame uni- form. The latter was a little more pro- lific for what he did with his legs, but he still didn't nearly do enough with his arm for Notre Dame to defeat Northern Illinois. At home. That'll always stick with him, even though he more than made the doubters stuff their whiny faces with crow all the way to Atlanta in January. Hartman's three losses that prevented a natty appearance the year before Leonard made one won't ever be forgotten either. Bottom line, Hartman and Leonard had limitations. Angeli's got a few of his own. He's the least mobile of the three quarterbacks who were competing for the starting job this spring, for one. He might have the third-strongest arm among them, too. So what did he bring? Experience. He only started one game at Notre Dame but that's one more than junior Kenny Minchey and sophomore CJ Carr com- bined. Angeli being pushed out of the race is a seminal moment in the Free- man era. It signals to us all that as much as he's harped on having been there, done that being an essential trait for a quarterback — or even a prerequisite, per prior rhetoric — it actually isn't ev- erything. A combination of talent and potential, brought by Minchey and Carr, could trump steadiness and exposure. Now Freeman just needs to hope he was correct in his calculations. If who- ever starts for Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium Aug. 31 looks lost, we'll all have in the back of our minds that there was someone on the roster four and a half months before kickoff who didn't look lost at all on that very playing surface when the stakes were as high as they could possibly be. Angeli had Notre Dame starting quar- terback potential. Maybe as much of it as Minchey and Carr. The only time he ever got to realize it was on a sunny day in the Sun Bowl. ✦ Steve Angeli Seeks 'Orange-r' Pastures Steve Angeli never had his Senior Day at Notre Dame, leaving the program after three seasons. He'll be in South Bend for Senior Day in 2025, wearing a different- colored jersey. Angeli committed to Syracuse April 23. He'll face the Irish Nov. 22 at Notre Dame Stadium. He'll have two years of eligibility remaining, and if he uses both with the Orange, he'll play against the Irish twice. Angeli, who entered the portal April 17 as a graduate transfer, visited Syracuse April 21 and committed two days later. He completed 58 of 80 passes for 772 yards with 10 touchdowns and just 1 interception at Notre Dame in 21 games (1 start). Syracuse appears to be a program on the rise under second-year head coach Fran Brown. The Orange went 10-3 in 2024, led by quarterback Kyle McCord. The Ohio State transfer threw for 4,779 yards and 34 touch- downs in his lone season at Syracuse, and was selected 181st overall in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. Additionally, Angeli has ties to Syracuse's coaching staff. Offensive associate head coach/quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile's brother, Vito Campanile, was Angeli's head coach at Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic. The Orange recently named LSU transfer quarterback Rickie Collins their starter, but that situation seems to be fluid if Brown is taking a look at Angeli. Notably, No. 1 wide receiver Trebor Pena entered the transfer portal in part because he didn't trust Collins. "He was worrying about things that players don't worry about," Brown told Orange Nation. "'How do you know Rickie's gonna be good? He's super talented, but would he be good next year and not this year?' When they start trying to do your job and thinking too much, you gotta go." After sitting for three years at Notre Dame, Angeli is looking for an opportunity to start. He'll likely compete with Collins for the top job at Syracuse in fall camp. — Jack Soble Angeli, who served as the Fighting Irish's backup for three seasons, opted to leave South Bend for a chance to earn a starting job at Syracuse. PHOTO COURTESY STEVE ANGELI VIA X