Steve Angeli And Kenny Minchey Are Vying For Notre Dame's Backup Job

There is not a quarterback competition at Notre Dame this fall, at least not at the top of the depth chart. The Fighting Irish have had competitions for the starting job entering fall camp the last two years, but Sam Hartman is the clear No. 1 quarterback heading into the season after the post-spring practice departure of Tyler Buchner.

While Hartman has the clamps on Notre Dame’s QB1 job, sophomore Steve Angeli and freshman Kenny Minchey are vying for the QB2 position behind the five-year veteran.

"I would like to see those two compete,” Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli said after Saturday’s ninth fall training camp practice. "Kenny needs to push Steve, Steve needs to stay ahead of Kenny. To me that’s growth, iron sharpens iron at the end of the day. So, if we have three good ones and they can all push each other and make each other better, then Notre Dame will be better.”

Minchey enrolled early this spring and got minimal reps as Notre Dame’s fourth quarterback behind Hartman, Buchner and Angeli. He has benefited from more reps in training camp after Buchner’s transfer to Alabama.

"If you'd asked me in the spring, I would have said I had a good grasp on the offense,” Minchey explained. "But I feel like it's actually clicking now with more reps and just more time in the coach's office and just talking about quarterbacks. I'm definitely getting more adjusted to it.”

Angeli is heading into his sophomore season after enrolling early in the 2022 spring semester. He worked behind Buchner and Drew Pyne (now at Arizona State) that spring and in last year’s fall camp as those two battled for the starting nod. Buchner’s early season injury against Marshall, an injury that shut him down for 10 games and elevated Pyne to the starting job, pushed Angeli to the backup role. He got on the field against UNLV and Syracuse last season, but never attempted a pass.

"This was my message to both of those guys heading into the summer,” Guidugli began. "Kenny, I want you to try and beat Steve Angeli out for the two spot. Steve, you need to stay ahead of Kenny and you need to be ready in case Sam goes (down). The message to both of them was Sam Hartman is one play away from being out against Ohio State, and here you come, walking into the game.

"If you don't walk every day into the Gug and prepare yourself for that situation, when that situation arises, you're not going to be ready. You’ve got to prepare yourself every single day that we're playing USC at night and all 77,000 people — and here comes Steve Angeli or Kenny MInchey in at quarterback. Whether that’s his helmet popping off or he gets dinged and has to come out, you're going into those games and the other 10 guys in the huddle are looking at you, expecting you to get the job done.”

All four Irish quarterbacks, Hartman, Angeli, Minchey and walk-on Dylan Devezin, have spent the majority of their summer together, both on the field and hunkered down in Guidugli’s office meeting and watching film to hone their craft.

QB2 may not officially be his just yet, but Angeli said on Saturday he would be ready to run the Irish offense if there was a game tomorrow and he was called into action.

"I think I'd be pretty comfortable."