Steve Angeli Is Taking Advantage Of Extra Opportunities

Sophomore quarterback Steve Angeli is in a different place than he’s ever been in his still young Notre Dame football career. The New Jersey was the Fighting Irish scout team quarterback a year ago, but after the dual departures of Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne and the offseason arrival of Sam Hartman from Wake Forest, Angeli is getting more reps and gaining valuable experience during this year’s training camp.

Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli will even forgive Angeli’s transgression during Saturday’s latest camp practice.

"He threw a dumb pick today, but we’ll learn from it,” Guidugli joked when asked about Angeli’s camp progress. "He had a tremendous night (Thursday) night at Mishawaka. He’s made a lot of steps. Him and Kenny (Minchey) are getting an unbelievable opportunity with us just having three scholarship (quarterbacks) in fall camp. Invaluable experience for those guys, just to be able to get in there and get all the reps that they’re getting right now and be able to put them in situations where they’ve got to do things versus live bullets and make decisions. Happy with his progress.”

Angeli wasn’t as willing to joke about his practice interception, but he acknowledged his need to learn from it.

"Just got to know the situation,” Angeli recalled after Saturday’s practice. "No need to overcomplicate the situation. Just do my job and just play the down the right way. But yeah, it's completely on me, just got to make a better decision.”

The extra experience shows in Angeli’s reps in practice. He has been accurate, on time and smooth with the vast majority of the throws he has made when media have been present to watch Irish practices. There is one area that he estimates he has improved the most so far.

"I think definitely coverage recognition,” Angeli said. "Knowing how to operate the play and getting to my third and fourth read in the progression and just being able to work through everything and just manage the down, manage the play when a situation is going bad or there's a play call that's not great for the look. Just managing that play call and put us in the best position.”

The four Irish quarterbacks, Hartman, Angeli, Minchey, and walk-on Dylan Devezin, have been nearly inseparable since camp began.

"They just camp out in my office,” Guidugli quipped. "It’s all of them together. They eat all their meals in there. We watch film in there. It’s a good group and they help each other. They really like football and they like preparing. So, I couldn’t be happier with them.”

Angeli fully acknowledges spending ample time in Guidugli’s office. He joked that it’s more like when are they not in his office during camp, but that’s one of the benefits of camp. With no classes to attend yet, It’s all football 24/7 and it’s been all-in with the four quarterbacks helping each other.

"It's a difficult situation when only one person in our room's able to take the field and be named the starter,” Angeli explained. “But I think we all play a role in getting everybody to their best and getting everybody prepared. So, it's more of the behind the scenes work of being in there together and going through everything together, reading scripts, watching film. It's very collaborative. Only one guy is out there doing it on game day, but it really takes all four of us.”

Of course, there is also great benefit in having a graduate transfer like Hartman in the room to share the knowledge that 45 starts and nearly 1,600 pass attempts provides.

"It's been awesome having Sam,” Angeli proclaimed. "Being able to just ask him any questions that I have, he pretty much has an answer for every single one of my questions. He's played five years going on six years of college football, so he's seen almost everything there. I'm pretty much attached to his hip every single day and just trying to gain and soak up any knowledge, his routine, just see what makes him so great and just see how he got to this place. 

"But really, just having him as a friend and as a person has been really special as well," continued Angeli. "Just going through camp with him and everything that he's been able to teach me from a mental side to the physical side. His pointers and knowledge are extremely helpful.”

Angeli played in two games in back to back weeks as a true freshman last season against UNLV and Syracuse. He was not able to throw a pass in either game, but still took something from the experience.

"It's really, really difficult to simulate game reps,” said Angeli. "Situational score, just kind of the environment. So anytime I was able to get on the field and in a real game, it's been really valuable.”