(Notre Dame) — One of the most anticipated announcements of this fall will be the winner of Notre Dame’s quarterback battle between redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey and redshirt freshman CJ Carr.  It’s not something quarterbacks coach Gino Giudugli thinks will be resolved quickly.

“We’re going to let these guys work through the body of training camp,” Giudugli said after Friday’s practice. “We’ve got four weeks or so to the first game. We want to put those guys in as many situations as possible since neither one of them has starting experience and try to get as many game-like reps as we can. See how the guys respond and see how the team responds to them.”

Giudugli sees a lot of similarities between the two quarterbacks in terms of preparation, football IQ, passion for the game and arm talent. There are differences though.

“CJ is probably a little bit more vocal than Kenny is,” admits Giudugli. “Kenny is probably a little more athletic than CJ is. We’ve got two really good quarterback that will compete their butt off, and when we do name one, that guy is going to be better because of this competition and we’ll be a better team because of it.”

As for the two quarterbacks competing, they were candid in assessing their strengths.

“What I’m focused on is trying to be efficient as I can be and play good football,” notes Minchey, who has been on the field in four games over two years, scoring a touchdown last season at Purdue. “My strengths? My accuracy…I feel I can put the ball where it needs to go. Most of the time, my decision making…still working on that. Being able to extend plays is a plus as well.”

“One of my strengths is understanding where to go with the ball and what the defense is doing,” states Carr, who played in one game last season before injuring his elbow. “I think I’ve grown a lot with that since my first year here. Another strength I have is the relationship I have with my teammates.  The quarterbacks and the coaches get all the glory, but it’s really the line and the receivers who are out there making all the plays.”

Giudugli also noted that emotional makeup can be viewed as a difference between the two players.

“CJ plays with a lot of emotion, and that can be good, but we don’t want to be emotional,” explains the veteran assistant. “When things are good, he gets really high. When things don’t go good, he can kinda take it hard. Coach Freeman is always saying ‘one play, one life’. You’ve got to have a quick memory at quarterback. Both the guys…you put them on most rosters in the country, they’re going to be the starting quarterback.”

Both quarterbacks say that’s the nature of the job.

“I feel that’s part of my foundation,” states Minchey, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee. “I don’t let football as a whole define me, so I’m certainly not going to let one singular play. I feel that’s my foundation for not letting myself get too high or too low.”

“I think that’s something I’ve struggled with in the past,” admits Carr, from Saline, Michigan. “When something goes wrong, you want to know why right away. The issue is when you’re in the second period of team and you throw a pick, you don’t have time to go watch tape. You’ve got to go play the next play. I think that’s a place I’ve grown.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock will also have a large say in the decision and knows the questions he wants answered.

“How do they operate within the framework of the offensive scheme?,” asked Denbrock. “Do they understand it? Do they know what their problems are? Being a consistent guy day in and day out that their teammates can count on to not only take care of the football, but make good decisions with it.”

Denbrock also knows that no matter which quarterback wins this battle, they’ll be making their first collegiate start at a place with a very hostile atmsosphere.

“They haven’t had a whole lot of live snaps where they can experience failure,” says the Irish OC. “It was fun yesterday — even though it wasn’t fun to see the turnovers — it was fun to see how their response was. The next play, in either young man’s situation, he bounces right back and makes an explosive play.”

Head coach Marcus Freeman reiterated Thursday the quarterbacks will likely decide this with how the month unfolds. In the meantime, fans and media anxiously await an answer they may not get until August 31 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.