If there are obvious traits that would allow Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey or CJ Carr to stand out from one and other in Notre Dame’s new quarterback battle, Irish football coach Marcus Freeman isn’t eager to share.

The three quarterbacks began their quest to become Notre Dame’s next starting quarterback Wednesday when the Irish held their 1st spring practice.

Freeman says he has no timetable for when he will name a starting quarterback to replace Riley Leonard who exhausted his eligibility leading the Irish to the national championship game in January in his lone season at Notre Dame.

“We’ll name a starter when a starter clearly shows he’s the best quarterback,” Freeman said after practice Wednesday. “I don’t want to put a timetable on it. I refuse to do that because if you don’t have a decision made by then, it’s going to frustrate you. There is no need to put a timetable on it. Let those guys compete and when a starter is determined, we are going to announce it.”

Freeman says there is no perfect science to how the competition will go but that each of three will get their share of opportunities to run with the starters when it comes to reps and that each day could be different.

“It’s important for us to communicate with them beforehand,” Freeman explained. “No matter if they like the group they are going with or not–which it shouldn’t matter–that we are up front and honest with them and give them feedback after each practice.”

Angeli is the most experienced of the three quarterbacks serving as the primary backup to both Sam Hartman in 2023 and Riley Leonard in 2024. He started and shined in Notre Dame’s Sun Bowl win over Oregon State at the end of the 2023 season and came in off the bench for a critical role during Notre Dame’s Orange Bowl win over Penn State when Leonard was being evaluated for a concussion. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

Minchey enters his 3rd year in the program and has three years of eligibility remaining. He’s the best runner of the group.

Carr is in his 2nd season in the program and has all four years of eligibility remaining. He’s the least experienced but many believe he has the highest upside of the three.

“They all have similar skill sets,” Freeman said. “Kenny might argue he’s as good of a runner as Riley but I don’t know. I think they all have the skill sets to be able to throw it, be able to keep the ball in their hands and extend the play or have the option to run the ball, they can. As we look at it from the big picture, we knew what Riley’s strengths were and we knew what Sam Hartman’s strengths were, now we have an idea of what the collective group of that room what the strengths are so how do we tailor what we do offensively to fit the quarterback and what are we going to ask that guy to do. You’ve heard me say it many times, great coaches call or ask their players to do what they do well.”

Asked more specifically about each player’s individual strengths, Freeman didn’t want to get too specific.

“They all have great arms and can throw the ball,” Freeman replied. “One [Angeli] is a senior that’s been here and has experience, one [Carr] is going into his 2nd year and one [Minchey] is going into his third year. Is that a strength or a weakness? I don’t know. That’s too be determined. I think all three have the ability to extend plays with their legs. All three really make great decisions. There’s nothing I’m going to say right now to say ‘they’re separated’, those three are competing. I look forward to the competition and at the end of the day when one clearly shows he’s the best person to lead our offense, then he will be named the starter.”

Notre Dame won’t have its full allotment of wide receivers available during spring practice for various reasons but Freeman doesn’t see that as an issue for the quarterback battle.

“The one thing I’ve learned more than anything when you evaluate quarterbacks is it isn’t always the final result that tells you whether they did a good job,” he said. “Other people see it that way. Did the guy catch it or not? Was it an interception or not? What is the outcome but when you spend time understanding their process, a lot of that time–it’s not their fault. We can evaluate a quarterback based on his decision making and not look at the result or the outcome of the play. That doesn’t always matter. That’s what we will be able to do when utilizing some younger guys with less experience.”

Helping all three quarterbacks will be that they will have the same offensive coordinator in Mike Denbrock as they did last year after Notre Dame went through a stretch of three different OCs in three years. It also helps that quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli is entering his 3rd season.

“That camaraderie, that consistency is important,” Freeman said. “It’s going to help everybody enhance faster. We really, really, preached the details of our offense. You are not enhancing the details if you don’t have a great foundation. We do have a great foundation and we are able to enhance the details of our offense so it’s exciting. It’s definitely an added benefit to have consistency with your coordinator and quarterbacks coach.”

Freeman said at the end of the day, it’s all about making the team better.

“I truly love competition,” Freeman added. “I think it will make all three of those guys better. It’s the first true competition with three guys that I have been a part of but I think it’s going to be a fair competition–I know it’s going to be a fair competition.”

Notre Dame’s Blue-Gold game is set for April 12th at Notre Dame Stadium.