Notre Dame QB Deep Dive: Will Riley Leonard STAR for the Irish in 2024?

for years it's felt like one of the biggest things holding Notre Dame back from competing at the top of college football is the lack of a truly Elite quarterback so could that all change beginning in 2024 all that and more on today's edition of lock on Irish you are locked on Irish your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's going on and welcome in another another edition of lockdown Irish for daily Notre Dame podcast and today is Tuesday July 2nd and thank you for making this your first listen of the day I'm your host Ty Ro Jack I'm a Notre Dame Alum and producer at Fox Sports and this show is free and available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast no matter how you choose to tune in today though I really appreciate you joining me here but if you are watching Along on YouTube this is your reminder to give that video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel or if you're listening the Pod please rate the show five stars leave a review And subscribe if you have not already today's episode is brought to you by fandel make every moment more as playoffs wind down the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long just visit fel.com locked on to get started okay we are officially in July which means the regular season is just under two months away the start of fall Camp begins at the end of this month but it also means that we are in the midst of a recruiting Dead period and there usually isn't a ton of breaking news this time of year in the college football space this is a time when college football coaches go on vacation because they really do not have any other break on the calendar throughout the year there really aren't that many sports on TV so really everyone is left anxiously awaiting the start of football season so to get ready for this upcoming season I'm going to do a deep dive into each position group on the Notre Dame roster in the leadup to the start of fall Camp over these next several weeks we're going to break down the depth chart most important players strengths questions concerns I've got some predictions as well and to start this series we've got to take a look at the most important position on the field the quarterback and for the first time in a really long time Notre Dame's quarterback room from top to bottom should be a strength on this roster let's take a look at what they have so they have four scholarship quarterback s that by itself is a big accomplishment because there aren't that many teams uh in the modern day and age of college football who can actually have four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster because guys transfer they move around all the time because there can only be one quarterback on the field and the one quarterback that is going to be on the field the most this season for the Irish hopefully as long as health permits is Riley Leonard who will be entering his senior season he is the Duke transfer that Notre him added in the transfer portal this past off season um from the moment that Riley Leonard entered the transfer portal it seemed like he was going to end up at Notre Dame it was pretty funny the day that he did it like it was the news was like Riley Leonard enters the transfer portal and then pretty much every single college football reporter out there said Riley Leonard is going to go to Notre Dame and that is where he ended up and this season it doesn't seem like Marcus Freeman is really pretending that there's a quarterback competition because there's really not if there is a competition it's for the backup spot or maybe the third string position which I'll get to in a second but R Leonard is the clear-cut qb1 for this team heading into fall Camp behind Riley Leonard you've got Steve Angeli who's entering his third year with the program and he got his first start in his college career in the sunbowl this past season against Oregon State played pretty well in that game and I felt like at the time maybe it was like a try out for him before he would enter his name in the transfer portal but he did not enter he's sticking around with Notre Dame for this upcoming season and behind Angeli you've got Kenny mchi who's going to be entering his second year of the program as a red shirt freshman and then you've got CJ Carr the true freshman uh high four star midyear enroling who everyone is really excited about but that's a really really good group top to bottom like I said I don't I'm not a expert on the quarterback depth chart of every single team in the country but I feel very confident in saying you won't find many other rooms that have as much talent as Notre Dame has from top to bottom and when you look at it they have pretty much everything you want they have a starting quarterback who has the potential to be really really good he could play his way into a top draft pick this season if he performs as we all hope he will and you have a backup who is experienced in the sense that he's been around for a long time this is not a first or a secondy year guy he will be entering his third year with the program he has his start underneath his belt already and then behind Angela you've got two really young really talented quarterbacks who look like they have a very very bright future so it's a really good room and there's plenty of reasons to be excited about but when you look at the returning production there really isn't a whole lot at least for what these guys have done with Notre Dame Riley Leonard has a bunch of experience with Duke last season really didn't go that well for him he only played in seven games after the second half of his season was pretty much wiped out by an injury statistically it wasn't that great had just over 1100 passing yards three passing TDS three interceptions 340 or 352 rushing yards with four touchdowns on the ground which is nice but it doesn't even compare to what he did in 2022 when he had just under 3,000 yards passing 20 touchdowns through the air um 13 more on the ground and only six interceptions to go along with 699 rushing yards he led Duke in passing and rushing That season and that is really why so many people are so excited about what Riley leard can do this season and then he showed flashes that in the season opener against Clemson last season but then after that and really after that game against Notre Dame it just wasn't going to be his year but hopefully this year will be a lot better for him Steve Angeli I mentioned he has one start under his belt and he did go out there with the ones I thought it was really good that Marcus Freeman and Jared Parker who's the offensive coordinator at the time gave Steve Angeli a chance to go out there play with the ones in the case that Sam Hartman did get hurt that never ended up happening but then Sam Hartman opt it out of the bowl game and Steve Angeli got his chance to shine I thought he played well last season granted some of it was going up against pretty weak competition but he did finish 34 of 44 which is a 77 % completion percentage it's really good 500 four yards passing seven touchdowns one interception against Stanford and he also had 27 rushing yards uh all of which came in that game against Oregon State I think that's important I'll get to that a little bit later on Kenny mchi barely anything there he went two for two uh with 12 yards passing last year so he is basically starting from scratch so I think when you look at this group and their expectations for 2024 there's plenty of reasons to be excited about each and every guy and what they could bring to the table but in an Ideal World Riley Leonard stays healthy and starts every single game for the Irish now I'll admit that seems a little bit unlikely given the fact that he's already been dealing with injuries throughout his career he missed most if not all of Notre spring practice as he recovered from two ankle surgeries that he uh had this off season but one thing you can expect from this offense is that it's going to look much different than what we've seen from Notre Dame over the course of the past five years and big reason for that is because of the new offensive coordinator Mike Den Brock Den Brock loves to run designed quarterback runs we saw that when he was the offensive coordinator for Notre Dame back in 2015 Kaiser was a big part of Notre Dame's running game and then last year the last two years when he was the offensive coordinator at LSU he had Jane Daniels run the ball a whole lot and that is a big reason why he ended up winning the Heisman so I feel like when you look at this offense every single quarterback on this team can run the ball they're not all the runners that Riley Leonard is but I think that what you're going to see from Riley Leonard this season is going to be a better version of what not had in deshan Kaiser back in 2015 so let's look at what Kaiser did that year in his first year as the starter he came in from Malik zir when he went out with a season ending injury in that Virginia game which was just the second game of the year so in those uh 12 really 12 and a half games that Kaiser played that season he finished with a completion percentage of 65% which is pretty solid 2,884 passing yards 21 touchdowns 10 interceptions he ran the ball 134 times for 520 yards and scored 10 Rush touchdowns those are pretty good numbers now you can make the case that well Kaiser also had will Fuller to throw to that's fair there is no will Fuller on this roster but let's focus in on those numbers for a second because I think when you compare that to what I expect from Riley Leonard this season I think Leonard might have a slightly lower completion percentage I have some questions about his accuracy with the ball although he did win the aerid out C uh competition at the Manning Passing Academy this past weekend and he looked pretty accurate throwing the ball there now granted that is with t-shirts and shorts on so I don't know how much you could buy into that um but I do think that Riley Leonard is going to throw for a few more pass yards or something around that range around 2800 yards he's going to have similar passing touchdowns above 20 I would say hopefully has less interceptions 10 interceptions was a lot for desun Kaiser back in 2015 and I think that uh Riley Leonard is going to finish with more rushing yards because as good of a runner as DeShaun Kaiser was at Notre Dame Riley Leonard is better he's bigger he's faster I think he's more elusive as well I think if you're going to say that maybe he won't get as many yards it will have more to do with the fact fact that they sort of protect him against some of the weaker games on notam schedule which certainly could happen but if Riley Leonard does put up those kind of numbers this could be a really really good offense and he's proven that he can do that back in 20 2022 but really it doesn't really matter what he does collectively for the season it really the most important thing is what he does in the biggest games I'm talking about the Texas A&M game in the season opener the Louisville game which now is a huge game this season because of what Louisville did to Notre Dame last season and also I think that they're certainly on the upswing with Jeff Bram as their head coach we've got Florida State later in the season you've got USC to end it so Riley Leonard as long as he plays really well in those games and doesn't just completely fall off a cliff against the bad teams of which Notre plays a lot this season that's going to be the most important thing for Ry Leonard he's played in big games before but he has not played big games as the starting quarterback at Notre Dame when the microscope is on you a little bit more there's more pressure there's more eyeballs on you and it's he's not really gonna have some time to like ease into it that season opener against sex A&M is going to be one of the biggest games of this entire college football season so he's going to have to show up and show out in those big games because when you look at Sam Hartman stats from last season they really aren't bad but then when you look at his performance against Louisville and his performance against Clemson you're like oh well that's the reason why Notre Dame didn't achieve their goals so I feel really good about what Riley Leonard can do but there is also the possibility that he gets hurt and if he does get hurt I think that Steve Angeli is going to be the first guy off the bench and he he can still run the ball the offense is certainly going to look a little bit different but I think Angeli is good enough to give Notre a shot to win against every single team on the schedule in the regular season I I even think he could beat Louisville I think he could beat Florida State because he's shown at least in one game and yes I understand that Oregon state had a lot of guys out in that one uh in that one bowl game but he looked good out there he looked calm he looked composed he wasn't afraid to throw the ball downfield he can make plays with his legs so no matter who's starting a quarterback this season for Notre so long as it's Leonard or and jelly the two most experienced guys in the roster whoever is playing quarterback is going to give them a shot to win every single game and you really have not been able to say that about the quarterback position at Notre Dame in recent years just look at what happened in 2022 so beyond that my expectations about the group if you're looking at like second string third string fourth string I think all eyes are going to be on CJ Carr and Kenny mchy could either one of those guys beat out Steve Angeli to be the backup by the end of the season I think it's certainly possible but it's a big difference between playing well against the twos and threes in practice and in Spring ball compared to going up against the other team starters on a Saturday if Kenny mchi or CJ Carr were thrust into the action this year and they had to go out and face you know some of these defenses that are on no schedule I won't feel quite as confident that they will be able to beat those teams but again how many times do teams have to run out their third and fourth string guys odds are not that much and knock on wood that won't happen this year for the Irish so when I look at the room I think the floor is higher than it's been since 2015 because even if the starter goes down the backup gives you more than a chance and the ceiling is higher for Riley Leonard than it's been for any Notre Dame quarterback since Jimmy Clawson does he still have a lot of room to grow absolutely we might not have even seen anything close to the best of what Riley Leonard can do in college but I'm very excited about what he can do and I think that even if he's not clicking right out of the gate as as the season goes along he's going to get better and better and better and by the end of this year Riley Leonard could be a truly Dynamic player throwing the ball and running the ball as well all right coming up next we're going to take a closer look at the strengths of the quarterback room and I'll explain my biggest concern that could hold them back today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel I love sports I love them so much that I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports aren't sportsing like I want them to but fandel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus every single day that's right there's something out there for everyone every day all summer long so over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer fandel unoficial sports betting partner of Major League Baseball when I look at the biggest strengths of the quarterback room the first thing that stands out to me is the numbers and I've kind of alluded to it already they have four scholarship quarterbacks I did not think they'd be in this position really when the offseason started I was like okay they've got four right now going into spring practice there's going to be a competition once Riley Leonard asserts himself as the starting quarterback you're probably going to see either Steve Angeli or Kenny mchy leave fortunately for for Notre Dame that didn't happen I was very happy to be wrong about that situation because now Notre Dame has four really talented quarterbacks all on scholarship going into this season there's really not that many teams in college football who could say the same and even though Steve angelli might not have a ton of experience in a game he does have that start he has played before and most teams don't have a backup who will be entering his third year with the program a lot of times it's either a true freshman or freshman who might have a ton of potential but really real game experience so when the starter goes down you don't really know what you're going to get out of the backup quarterback that's not the situation for Notre Dame and then behind angelli you've got two younger guys who have a ton of talent and have a really bright future they're also very athletic which leads me to I think what is the second biggest strength of this room their Collective athleticism I mean Riley Leonard is a freak athlete I'm sure by now you've heard about the videos of him dunking in high school he could have he could have played college basketball if he wanted to and when he runs the ball you start to see that he's also really big so he can just Shed off Defenders Shed off tacklers and he's very elusive as well so it's rare to have that kind of an athlete at the quarterback position and that's what Riley Leonard is but he's not the only one I remember in that bowl game against Oregon State Steve angelli tried to hurdle a guy and he gave I think everyone watching at least on the notame side a heart attack hopefully he doesn't do that ever again basically you never want to see your quarterback risk an injury quite like that but the fact that he even considered it the the AUD audacity to try to pull that off in the middle of a game um is pretty impressive and I think he showed in that game like hey he's not going to be like your dual threat quarterback like Riley Leonard but he can make some plays with his legs when he was at Bergen Catholic in high school he was really good running the ball and even though the collective speed and athleticism once he gets to college is a lot different than high school football in New Jersey he still got that in him and then behind Angeli you've got Kenny minchy and CJ Carr and I'll admit I I was really surprised by Kenny minch's running ability in that spring game ran for five first downs as the quarterback most of which were scrambles he did have that designed run for a touchdown when he ran QB power to the left and I thought even on that play even though it was like a three- yard touchdown run his ability to find the hole put his foot down and get into the end zone like that was pretty impressive I knew that he could move I knew that he wasn't a statue back there but he showed some skills and just some innate uh ability as a runner of the football that I didn't think he had so that was a really pleasant surprise and then you have CJ Carr who again isn't like going to be super involved in the designed quarterback run game but he's very Innovative when he's back there if the play breaks down he can roll out to his right he can roll out to his left look downfield and make the throw and then if there's no one there to Blitz him or he just has an open Lane he can put his foot in the ground and run for a first down as well notame hasn't had this in a really long time you look back at who they've had at quarterback over the past several years most of them were dropback passers and even Ian book who was one of the best scramblers I've ever seen and extremely elusive uh in the pocket and when he'd roll out he didn't run a ton of designed quarterback runs he did run a few but not really anything compared to what we're going to see out of Riley Leonard this season so every single one of these guys can move they can make plays with their legs and it's something that the defense is going to have to account for and then just from a pure talent perspective that's another big strength for this Grom ironically Riley Leonard was the lowest ranked recruit coming out of high school out of any of these quarterbacks but then again he was one of the top ranked if not the top ranked quarterback in the transer portal this cycle so it's not like he doesn't come in with some accolades as well and jelly was a low fourar and then CJ Carr was a really high fourar borderline five star and then Kenny Mitch was right there at like a top I would say 150 to 200 player nationally uh fourstar player as well Elite 11 finalist all of that so they have a bunch of raw talent and these guys are trained by some of the best quarterback Minds in the country like I said rileyy Leonard showed out at The Passing Academy um he works out with some of the best quarterback trainers in the country mini works out with QB country uh very well-respected quarterback training program Carr has probably been receiving private training since he came out of the womb so these guys have been receiving special attention for a really long time and I think that they are able to take their game to the next level every offseason they continue to get better and also they have a great quarterback's coach at Notre Dame and Gino gulli and now they have Mike Den Brock as the offensive coordinator who is also going to be crucial to their development as well so development is great it's a lot better when you already have that raw talent to begin with and I feel like all of these guys uh have a lot of raw talent to work with and lastly for my biggest strength of uh the quarterback room I think competition is a real strength even though that there's not going to be a competition for the starting job I would say that there is competition for two and three and that competition is going to bring out the best in this group and jell is the backup for now he's earned that he's been around for a long time Kenny minchi and CJ Carr are still young pups compared to Steve Angeli but I think most people would agree from a pure arm Talent perspective Kenny mchi and CJ Carr are more talented than Steve Angeli that year is important and that's why he's the backup now but as time goes on Mini and Carr are going to be competing every single day for that third string spot and if one of them asserts them themselves as the clear thir ring they might start competing with Angeli for that backup job I don't think that this is going to happen all in Fall camp but as the season goes along as these guys continue to practice every single day work to get better and try to get playing time I think 's going to be some serious competition there even if we aren't able to see it on the field on Saturday so those are my biggest strengths let's look at my biggest concerns the first one is obvious it's the health of the starting quarterback um Riley Leonard has had two surgeries on the same ankle in the short time that he's been on campus he first suffered the injury against Notre Dame uh in the regular season game last year on the very last play from scrimmage for the Duke offense he went down awkwardly when Howard cross brought him down for a sack and then for whatever reason he didn't get that cleaned up while he was at Duke had his first surgery in the winter when he was at Notre Dame and then had to get another cleanup surgery on that same ankle during spring practice and for any quarterback that's going to be a concern it's definitely going to be even more of a concern when you have a quarterback like Riley Leonard who relies so much on his legs so he's going to be more prone to injuries and even though he's big and he's physical and he's been running the ball for his entire life like I'm always going to be holding my breath when he goes down if especially if it looks weird with that ankle so that is going to be the biggest concern because even though I feel confident about Angeli's ability to come in and give Notre a shot I obviously feel a lot better when Riley Leonard is out there so that's so that's the main thing but something else that I don't think is being talked about all that much is the lack of experience that this entire room has with this current wide receiving core at Notre this is Leonard's first year in the program he missed out on some valuable practice time in the spring to me that was the biggest loss because what he really needs is reps with the wide receivers because KN him as a new look wide receiver room yes they bring back Jane grous and Jane Thomas two of their best wide receivers from last season but Riley Leonard really hasn't thrown to them all that much and they also bring in three transfers in Bo Collins Jaden Harrison and Chris Mitchell plus you have three more incoming freshman and Mikey Gilbert cam Williams and Logan sadate like there isn't a ton of built-in chemistry with these wide receivers and any of the quarterbacks on the current roster also Jordan fison Who projects to be one of Notre am's top receivers this season he was not with the football team much in Spring practice because he was playing on the lacrosse team so they have not really had that much time to get reps together now I know that this summer uh Riley Leonard had a lot of those guys down to his house in Alabama and they've been getting work this offseason that's great they need as many reps as humanly possible but how long is it going to take for all of them to get on the same page like that is my biggest concern and I think that as Notre figures out okay who are going to be our top wide receivers once that's figured out like that group needs to get as many reps as possible with Riley Leonard and Steve Angeli because they have a lot of to make up for and I think that every single one of these transfers Bo Collins jayen Harris and Chris Mitchell all of those guys are going to be big factors this season and they need as many reps as possible with Riley Leonard and also the backup as well because you don't want to have Steve Vaneli come in and the timing be completely off with all of these guys so those reps are very important they missed out on a lot of crucial ones in Spring practice and they have a lot of making up to do looks like they're well on their way but still that is going to be something I'm following specifically at the start of the season and my last concern about the quarterback room for this season is it's the fact that it's the first year in a brand new system obviously uh anyone who's been listening to the show knows that I'm very high on what Mike Den Brock brings to the table as the notam offensive coordinator his resume speaks for itself LSU had the best offense in all of college football last season but they also had Jane Daniels and two of the best wide receivers in the country who both went in the first round of this past year's NFL draft this is also the third offensive coordinator Notre has had in the past three years and this offense is going to be much different than the ones they've had in the past has it's going to be a lot more focused in the quarterback run game a lot more three wide receiver sets less 12 personnel and even though it's really exciting to think about all the creativity and all the different things that this offense can throw at you it's still a lot of new terminology a lot of new reads that none of these quarterbacks have dealt with in the past when they're playing with either Jared Parker or Tommy ree so that is going to be something that Notre Dame really has to figure out especially early on in the season odds are the Notre quarterbacks are going to feel much more comfortable in the offense next season with the full year under their belt with Mike Den Brock as the offensive coordinator but they can't wait a year there's already so much pressure on this te on this season this team is too talented so they can't just be like all right well we're going to be better next year let's just punt this season no they need to figure out the way to maximize this offense as much as possible even though there's going to be a lot of new stuff being thrown their way fortunately Mike Den Brock is very experienced he also knows Notre Dame he understands the type of players that Notre Dame attracts and I feel confident that he's going to be able to make this process and this transition go a transition go as smooth as possible but still it is a big transition there's going to be bumps along the way and that is going to be something on falling especially at the start of the season going on the road at Tex A&M in a hostile environment where they're going to be running this offense for the first time in a real game all right coming up in segment three could 2024 be the beginning of a great run for Notre am quarterbacks all right so let's take a look ahead at the future of the Notre quarterback room and to put it simply I think that 2024 could be the beginning of a really impressive run run for notame quarterbacks it should be the last year of the one-year rental that notame has had to do three of the past four years because recruiting has improved drastically at the quarterback position that's one thing that I never really understood about fans who would um get really upset when Notre went into the transfer portal to get a quarterback it's like okay I understand you're like you you want to it's an ideal right you would much rather just recruit guys in high school develop them in house and then let them play on Saturdays but the fact is notam was not really recruiting quarterbacks at a high level and that really came back to bite them in 2022 once Tyler Buckner went down and then Drew Pine was out there and then you looked at what notam had last season they had to go in the transfer portal and get Sam Hartman and this year they had to go in the portal and get Riley Leonard so it made sense but also that shouldn't be the practice every single year fortunately Notre has been recruiting at an elite level at quarterback ever since Marcus Freeman took over as head coach Notre has had four quarterbacks committed over the course of the past four years if you look at the cycle from 2023 through 20 26 and all four quarterbacks are ranked in the top 200 of their class so Kenny MCH in the class of 2023 was um ranked just outside the top 150 players nationally at 168 2024 they got CJ Carr borderline five star top 100 player and then in 2025 they've got Duce Knight committed who has a real chance to be a five star when the cycle is all said and done when he committed Notre Dame he was ranked like outside the top 100 but every single week it seems like at every single event every Camp every time he steps on the field people are more and more impressed by what Duce Knight can do so there's a real chance he finishes as the top ranked quarterback commit for notame in a really long time so there has been an influx of talent in that room by the end of the season I expect that we're going to have a much better idea of what the race uh for the starting quarterback position is going to look like next season because even though I predicted that c Vaneli or Kenny minchi would end up transferring after spring practice and I was wrong I'm going to go on record and saying that will be absolutely shocked if Steve Angeli Kenny minchie and CJ Carr are all on the roster at this time next year odds are two of those three guys behind Riley Leonard are going to separate themselves by the end of the year year if minie or Carr beats out Angeli and they become the backup Angeli will almost certainly enter the transfer portal because then his path to playing time is basically denied because a younger quarterback has beat him and moved past him on the depth chart so if that happens Angeli is gone but but if Angeli you know say he continues his development and he maintains his role as the backup throughout the rest of the year and maybe going into next season he looks like he could be the starting quarterback for Notre Dame well then now you're going to have a two-man race between Kenny mchi and CJ car to be the backup and odds are if CJ Carr wins that battle Kenny Mitch isn't going to stick around because again it's the same thing it's a younger quarterback beating him out in the depth chart to be the backup and the path to playing time just isn't really there for Kenny mchi and guys move all the time in college football but particularly at quarterback so there's a bunch of different ways that this could turn out I don't think CJ Carr is a threat to transfer within the next couple years but who knows man people surprise you all the time in college football but I think that as the season goes along even if Riley Leonard is healthy there's going to be a lot of competition going on every single day in practice and the coaching staff is going to get a really good sense of what they have in this room and as I said in in uh the previous segment like competition is going to be good for this team it's going to bring out the best in these guys because even if they're not the starter they're going to have to continue to work every single day in practice to beat out their counterparts who are all really talented and I think that's um that should make all Notre Dame fans excited because right now they've got a bunch of really good players these guys are going to separate themselves and even though a lot of people are really excited about du SN being on the way could be a fivar all that um there's still a lot of guys in this room and he's got a long way to go before Duce Knight is going to be stepping on the field for the Irish I do think that there's a chance that next season Notre might incorporate some run packages that are designed for Duce Knight just to keep him happy keep him out there on the field and you know utilize his running ability he is a freak athlete he ran a 45 at the Elite 11s he's got a 42inch vertical so there's reason uh to put him out there even if it's just for a package and you know it's like okay he's not going to be the every down quarterback um the fact that he's even on the way is really exciting then in 2026 you've got Noah grub the quarterback room is in great shape I think that what Gino gulli has done ever since he joined the team along with Marcus Freeman once he became the head coach has been really really impressive and I'll admit I probably haven't given him as much shine as I probably should have but something that Brian Smith talked about last week when he was on the show is that he's a big reason why notam has been able to attract all these quarterbacks like a lot of credit is given to Marcus Freeman and for good reason he is a tireless worker on the recruiting Trail he's very effective at it and he made quarterback a priority from the moment he became the head coach but really Gino has been operating and he's a big reason why these guys are committed you hear the things that Duce Knight says about him he speaks glowingly of Gino CJ Carr um same deal even though once Tommy ree left it was like okay is he gonna have that sort of relationship with youo guli because CJ Carr and Tommy ree were Incredibly Close when CJ Carr committed but Gino gulli uh was able to build that relationship up once he joined the staff and it's been a really really good run for him uh in the past couple years and I think that's going to continue so long as he's with these staff and there's just so much so many reasons to be excited about what this team can do and what these quarterbacks can do in the future that it kind of makes you forget how rough it was for a few years and like hey I love Dean book he's the winningest quarterback in school history I think he's actually underrated but he wasn't that game breaker type of guy that could lift Notre Dame in the college football playoff like he really hit a ceiling going up against Alabama it just wasn't going to be there for him in that game but now Notre is attracting guys like CJ car like Duce Knight and hey maybe even Kenny mchie he might have that kind of talent as well via the high school recruiting system so now the quarterback room is just loaded with Talent there's not going to be any guys who you watch him throw and you're like wait a second what the hell is wrong with his uh throwing motion there that is not what a quarterback should look like and you know that all these guys are athletic enough to make plays with their legs there's going to be a lot of competition over these course of these next several years but hey I think competition brings out the best in people and that is a big reason why this quarterback room is in such good shape going forward and like I said if all goes to plan all this competition is going to happen behind closed doors because Riley Leonard is that talented he could be that good for the Irish this year and I really believe that he is going to start the full season he's going to have an excellent year for the Irish and I think that after this season Once it's all settled I think that Kenny minchi is going to really assert himself as the quarterback for next season I think angelli is going to leave and then next year you're going to have a real battle between Kenny minchi and CJ C to be the starting quarterback odds are it's going to last throughout the spring unless CJ Carr just really takes his game to another level and takes over the starting job going into his fret ref freshman season I know a lot of people are already counting on that happening I'm not ready to go there just yet I don't want people to count out Kenny mchy I think he has a real good chance to be the starting quarterback next year but if this does end up happening if Angeli does leave in the transfer portal after the season and it's Kenny mchie and CJ Carr that is going to be a really really fun quarterback battle to watch and then you'll have Duce Knight there as a third string guy and I'm going to be talking about the Notre quarterback room for probably like a 100 episodes next offseason because that will be such a fun battle between two really talented quarterbacks and a third quarterback who probably won't threaten to start his freshman season but will be a threat on the ground in those run packages like I talked about earlier so when you look at it overall this quarterback room is in so much better shape than it's been in such a long time and even though I have my concerns I feel like this has the chance with Mike Den Brock and Riley Leonard working hand inand here this could be a really really explosive offense led by a quarterback and it might be mostly on the ground Riley Leonard is such a good running quarterback that I think it was actually underrated um when he first committed to Notre Dame and I didn't look at that as closely as I should have and then ever since Mike Den joined the staff I really focused in on that I think he's going to be a huge Factor he's going to be very Dynamic for this team and I think opposing defenses are going to have their hands full with them and it's going to be a lot of fun to watch this season all right that's going to do it for this episode thanks again for making lockdown Irish your first listen in the day I'm going to be back tomorrow morning to do a deep dive in the not during running back room and then on Thursday I'll be doing another mail bag I've got some good questions from last week that I'll answer on the show but if you've got more questions send them my way you can s submit yours in the YouTube comments you can send them on Twitter at lockon Irish or you can send them in on Instagram at lockon Irish poot also make sure that you're subscribed on YouTube or wherever you're listening to the podcast and I'll see you tomorrow