Ryan Roberts recaps the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's spring quarterback battle and details which two signal callers find themselves towards the top.
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00:00We can pretty much close the books on spring practice for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish,
00:03and everyone is going to continue to ask the same question until we have an answer.
00:07Who is the starting quarterback for this team?
00:10Stock report.
00:11Let's talk quarterbacks, how they look this spring,
00:13and how a decision will need to be made in the near future about how this race ends up.
00:22Ryan Roberts from A to Z Sports breaking down everything Notre Dame football.
00:25Folks, spring practice is now coming to a close.
00:28We saw the blue and gold game.
00:30This past weekend, it's kind of the fruits of the labor of what is a long spring.
00:34A little bit shorter than most, but a little bit different,
00:37obviously with the extended playoff and in general Notre Dame football.
00:43We literally just played the longest season that we've ever seen in college football history.
00:47So spring practice was going to look a little bit different.
00:50There were some players that were held out,
00:51some players that were just kind of brought along a little bit slower, right?
00:57So different paces for some.
00:58But the quarterback was one of the positions that was the most heated during spring
01:02because everybody was healthy and everybody was a full go.
01:05And this was one of the most heavily debated quarterback battles that we have seen in several years.
01:10Obviously, in the three-man quarterback battle, not counting Blake Heber, who is a true freshman,
01:15you have Richard Freshman CJ Carr, Richard Sophomore Kenny Minchie, and Richard Junior Steve Vangeli.
01:20Now, I want to break down real quick how each did this spring, according to sources and some things that we were able to see.
01:27And then what might the next step in this quarterback battle ultimately be.
01:32For Steve Vangeli, he came into the spring as the oldest quarterback on the roster, obviously.
01:36The one with the most game experience.
01:38And he had a little bit of the inside track with all those things put into the equation, obviously.
01:42Now, Steve, from everyone that I've talked to and everything that we got availability to see, including the spring game, was solid all the way through.
01:50It wasn't bad.
01:51It wasn't great.
01:51It was just kind of even keel throughout most of the spring.
01:54So pretty much what you kind of expect from Steve Vangeli.
01:57Well, Kenny Minchie was a little bit of the opposites.
02:01It wasn't quite maybe as consistent as the other two, but the highs got people super excited.
02:07We saw that during the blue-gold game, it wasn't perfect by any stretch, but he made some eye-popping plays.
02:11He made some eye-popping plays during a couple of the open practices that were available to the media.
02:15And according to sources that I have on the Notre Dame side, they were impressed by Kenny.
02:20The command that he had and obviously the playmaking ability that he brings to the table.
02:24CJ Carr, another player that this staff is very high on, obviously, Richard Freshman.
02:29He was viewed as the most consistent throughout spring.
02:32And we saw that in the spring game, obviously, with his high completion percentage.
02:35And he was most consistent, even though he did throw the game's only interception.
02:39He also made some of the biggest plays of the game and was the most accurate consistently throughout the entire quarterbacks on this roster.
02:47So coming out of spring now, a decision is going to have to be made.
02:51Because I do think we saw an ascension of the two younger quarterbacks to really make their stake at claim at this starting job.
02:58And it's going to be really difficult after we get past the summer into fall camp.
03:03But in fall camp, it's going to be hard to divvy up these reps to three different quarterbacks.
03:09The first team reps and to be able to show and to see ultimately who wins this job.
03:15So there's going to have to be a cut that I think happens here in the rest of this offseason.
03:19Two quarterbacks, I think, is what you need to go into the fall.
03:22A part of this deeper conversation is then you could split reps.
03:26And then ultimately you could have to make that decision and ramp up one player's reps.
03:30Split in between three is just a lot at this point.
03:33So I went into the spring thinking that Steve and Jelly had the upper hand.
03:37But I'm leaving spring feeling less confident that is the case.
03:41And I'm feeling more confident this might be a battle between Kenny Minchie and CJ Carr.
03:46Now, CJ is viewed as kind of the golden child by a lot of people in Notre Dame fandom.
03:51But I do not want people to discount Kenny Minchie in this conversation.
03:56He has as much upside, if not more, just physical raw tools.
04:00And I do think if we get a more consistent version, this could be one of the more interesting fall camp battles.
04:04Put it in the comments section.
04:06Steve and Jelly, CJ Carr, Kenny Minchie.
04:08Give me positives.
04:09Give me negatives.
04:09And ultimately, if this does come down between CJ Carr, Kenny Minchie, make your prediction right now.
04:17Who ends up winning the starting quarterback battle game one against Miami?
04:20Make sure you hit that like button and subscribe on your way out.
04:22And as always, go Irish.