Once again, Marcus Freeman dipped into the portal to find a veteran quarterback.
Last season, the Irish offense was skillfully led by Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman, a pivotal figure in the team’s performance.
Freeman looked to the ACC to grab Duke’s Riley Leonard.
On paper, the new offensive coordinator, Mike Dembrock’s philosophy should be a strong marriage with Leonard’s skillset.
Leonard wasn’t available for the Blue-Gold game so that put last year’s Sun Bowl hero, Steve Angeli, on full display.
Angeli was 17-25 for 228 yards behind a shaky offensive line (another conversation for another time).
How Angeli fits into Dembock’s vision is a work in progress.
Dembrock’s leverage dual-threat quarterback Jayden Daniels into a potent offense at LSU.
Angeli is more of what people define as a traditional quarterback, but behind him, some quarterbacks fit in the dual-threat mode.
Kenny Minchey (12-19, 123 yards) showed flashes of what he could do with his feet, but his passing accuracy is a work in progress. He made a couple of good throws, including a touchdown pass, but overall, this season’s improvement will need to be made via limited snaps in practice.
Dembrock is Minchey’s second season on campus, and he is already his second offensive coordinator. There will be an adjustment period.
CJ Carr (12-23, 165 yards) made his Notre Dame debut. Carr is the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.
The four-star quarterback flashed plenty of potential, but he made a couple of bad throws, one of which came when he felt pressure and threw the ball up for grabs.
With the current transfer rules, there’s no guarantee which of the three will be returning, but there’s going to come a time when Freeman needs to have a quarterback developed in the program instead of one-season solutions.
