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Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli enters NCAA transfer portal

IMG_7504by: Jack Soble04/17/25jacksoble56
Notre Dame QB Steve Angeli
Nathan Ray Seebeck | Imagn Images

For three seasons, Steve Angeli gave everything he had with one goal in mind: becoming the starting quarterback at Notre Dame.

In the end, it wasn’t enough.

Angeli has entered the transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos, with two years of eligibility remaining. His exit leaves junior Kenny Minchey and sophomore CJ Carr to compete for the starting quarterback job.

During his time in South Bend, Angeli left his mark on the Notre Dame football program. First, he quarterbacked the Irish to a 40-8 victory in the 2023 Sun Bowl. Later, in the Orange Bowl against Penn State, Angeli stepped in for an injured Riley Leonard and led a two-minute field-goal drive to end the first half.

During that drive, he went 6-of-7 for 44 yards and pulled the Irish within one score of the Nittany Lions. Notre Dame likely would not have made it to the national championship game without Angeli’s contributions.

In all likelihood, though, Angeli was told that Carr and Minchey passed him in the quarterback pecking order after spring practice. Following the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said he would like to narrow the competition down from three to two.

“We’ll talk about it and have discussions moving forward,” Freeman said. “You would like to be able to kind of go in the fall with a two-quarterback battle. It’s really hard with truly having a three-quarterback battle. But we’ve got to sit down and have conversations about what’s best for our program, what’s best for our quarterbacks, and we’ll make those decisions in the future.”

Carr’s continued involvement in the competition is not a surprise, but to many, Minchey becoming a factor is. The junior took a significant step in spring practice, making plays with both his arm and his legs — the latter serving as a distinct advantage over Angeli.

Evidently, Minchey showed enough for Freeman, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli to favor him over Angeli as potentially Notre Dame’s Week 1 starting quarterback. Carr was the most impressive Irish signal-caller in the Blue-Gold Game, throwing 2 touchdown passes and threading the needle on downfield passes more than the other two.

With Angeli’s exit, freshman Blake Hebert is Notre Dame’s only scholarship quarterback not involved in the battle to start.

Angeli finishes his Notre Dame career with 58 completions on 80 pass attempts for 722 yards, 10 touchdowns and 1 interception in 21 games. He should be a hot commodity in the transfer portal, having proved his capability as a quarterback at the Power Four level.

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