After an emotional roller coaster of a season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have moved on from their final loss. They are busy recruiting, making moves in the transfer portal, and hiring the best coaches they can get their hands on. Ja’Juan Seider’s poaching from Penn State is just a teaser presented by Marcus Freeman. There are moves up his sleeve that will surely be cheerful news for the Irish supporters. Take, for example, Marcus Freeman’s recruiting game.
The man has already signed the best running backs coach in the country and now is after Penn State’s top prospect, Messiah Mickens, and other players like Jerquaden Guilford. His 2025 class has top prospects like Madden Faraimo (LB) and JaDon Blair. But, more than them, Freeman’s incoming transfers like Devonta Smith (CB) and Elijah Hughes (DL) will provide the proven edge to the Irish defense. That being said, the Irish still have their QB room unsorted.
Marcus Freeman currently has 3 QBs on his hands who are competing for the QB1 spot. Those QBs are Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey, and CJ Carr. All three of them are touted to take the position of Riley Leonard. However, none of them have the requisite experience to make that transition. That’s where spring practices come into play in shaping and refining up the QB1 spot. Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr are the two players without any experience, and that leaves Steve Angeli the only one with some experience to back up.
Bryan of the ‘Irish Breakdown’ podcast discussed as to which QB is likely to go in as the QB1 in the spring practices. “It’s Steve Angeli I expect to start the spring as the number one; I expect Kenny to be two and CJ to be three. I think it’s going to be a seniority thing to start spring practice, and that’s how it should be when you’re going into a battle. Because if you put Kenny or CJ at number one, then you’re kind of showing your hand a little bit. So I think that’s what they’ll start off”.
Well, if the QB1 position were initially given according to seniority, then it certainly makes sense why Steve Angeli would start. He is the only player among the three. His Sun Bowl appearance was also quite eventful, as he passed for 232 yards and three touchdowns against Oregon State. In his 2 seasons, Angeli has certainly seen quite a few snaps, although not as a starter all the time. But he had a 77.3% pass completion rate in 2023 for 504 yards, and even in 2024, which was Riley Leonard’s year, he threw for 268 yards. CJ Carr, on the other hand, hasn’t even featured in a single game. He only has his high school stats and potential to back him up. CJ Carr, thus, will have a lot to prove in these spring practices.
Injury crisis for Marcus Freeman?
We all know Marcus Freeman has brought in some very good transfers for the 2025 season. His returning players, like Cole Mullins and Billy Schrauth, provide optimism to the squad. However, what would happen if these same players and the players you brought on transfer have long-term injury concerns? How could Marcus Freeman plan in that scenario?
Well, there may be an injury crisis that is looking deeper and deeper. Cole Mullins hasn’t yet recovered from his knee injury and is not expected to make it to the spring practice any time soon. Then there is Will Pauling, a promising wide receiver who joined from Wisconsin, who was diagnosed with a foot stress injury. His injury is also expected to take longer than estimated. There are other players like Jalen Stroman, a safety who joined with huge optimism from Virginia Tech. However, right after his arrival, he started to face problems in the medical exam.
Stroman’s clavicle fracture, which he suffered last season against the Commodores, hasn’t yet healed and is expected to take quite long for him. Then there are other players, too, with injury concerns, like Billy Schrauth with his ankle injury and Anthonie Knapp, who had surgery after the Orange Bowl game. All in all, the injury problems are looking to pile up, and Marcus Freeman has to do something fast for the players’ recoveries.
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