Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 OCT. 31, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED N otre Dame accomplished some- thing truly remarkable in 2024 besides its run to the national championship game. Throughout that season, the Irish de- veloped four quarterbacks who would become Power Four starters. They had to develop transfer Riley Leonard on the fly, and he became the driving force behind Notre Dame's first two major bowl victories since the 1993 season. They developed Steve Angeli as his backup, and he arguably saved his team's life with a field goal drive at the end of the first half in the Orange Bowl, a 27-24 victory over Penn State. Before tearing his Achilles four games into the 2025 season (he has not been the same player upon his return), he looked every bit of a capable starter at Syracuse. All the while, they developed Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr behind the scenes. Carr, of course, beat out Minchey in the subsequent competition and went on to have a tremendous season for Notre Dame. One year later, Minchey is showing why at one point he was considered a front- runner in that competition with Carr. Playing for first-year head coach Will Stein at Kentucky, Minchey found him- self in a terrific situation for a transfer quarterback. As the offensive coordi- nator at Oregon, Stein turned Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel into Heisman Tro- phy finalists and made Dante Moore the projected No. 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft if he had declared. All were trans- fer additions, and Minchey — after a brief commitment to Nebraska — was Stein's hand-picked signal-caller for his first season as an SEC head coach. Through six games, Minchey has thrown for 1,394 yards with 11 touch- downs and 1 interception. He led back- to-back 35-34 overtime victories over South Carolina and No. 10 LSU, con- verting a two-point attempt for the win each time. The Wildcats ascended to No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 after beating the Tigers, and when he raced into the end zone untouched for the walk-off conversion, Minchey stopped to soak in the moment. After dismantling Stanford 58-7, Freeman got home in time to watch the conclusion of Kentucky's upset win. When asked about it Monday, he smiled and nodded. "I am not surprised one bit," Freeman said. "I couldn't have been more proud of him. I'm not surprised one bit that he's having the success, and I hope he continues to have that success and that program does, too." H e re a re t h e i m p l i c a t i o n s o f Minchey's success for the Fighting Irish. First, there's the past. It is rare to have two legitimate Power Four start- ing quarterbacks on a single roster, let alone four, and develop them at the same time. Freeman, offensive coor- dinator Mike Denbrock and quarter- backs coach Gino Guidugli do not get enough credit for the job they did that season, and then in 2025 with Minchey and Carr. Second, as long as Freeman, Den- brock and Guidugli remain together, Minchey's success is as strong a recruit- ing pitch for prospective Notre Dame quarterbacks as Carr's. In a perfect world, everyone would live happily ever after with their first school. But in an era when most pro- grams recruit a signal-caller in every class, that's simply not possible. Not a single starting quarterback in the Free- man era has played their entire career with the Irish, although Carr is likely to become the first to do it since Ian Book. When you're recruiting, it's ex- tremely powerful to be able to say this: "We think you can start here. But if not, we'll develop you to the point where you'll be able to start somewhere else." Minchey is proof of concept. He plays in the SEC for arguably the preeminent quarterback guru in college football. With another year and a half of eligibil- ity, he has a real shot to make the NFL. Finally, there's the present. It's not the exact same situation, but Notre Dame is once again developing two freshman quarterbacks who could start a year from now. Noah Grubbs has es- tablished himself as Carr's backup, but Teddy Jarrard is right behind him. It's a complex situation that also involves the possibility of taking a transfer if neither is ready, assuming Carr turns pro. "We have two really good quarter- backs that are improving and that will be in a competition as we get ready to go for next year," Freeman said. "That's what they gotta continue to focus on, is how do I continue to get better? Be ready if I get an opportunity here in a game today, but also know that this is about improving for the future." Fortunately for the Irish, they've been here before. "CJ, you think about his freshman year, he redshirted," Freeman said. "He was on scout team, doing what Teddy's doing, and he improved enough that he was able to win the competition his second year. Teddy understands that. Noah understands that, and they've both done a great job." ✦ After transferring to Kentucky, Minchey led the Wildcats to a 5-1 record and a No. 15 national ranking through Week 6. PHOTO COURTESY KENTUCKY ATHLETICS Kenny Minchey's Success Is Notre Dame's Gain Staff writer Jack Soble has covered Notre Dame athletics for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2023. Contact him at Jack.Soble@on3.com. OFF THE DOME JACK SOBLE