Marcus Freeman set the tone of modern Notre Dame football with his phenomenal run to the 2024 National Championship. At the quarterback position, the HC will see a notable change. Riley Leonard is now in the NFL, and rookie CJ Carr is expected to take the baton from him as the Irish’s new QB1. Carr can feature at Notre Dame for the next three years, after his debut in 2025. However, he will face some strong competition from a player who’s yet to arrive at South Bend.

“If [C.J. Carr is] good, Notre Dame might not have a single weakness,” thinks ESPN’s Bill Connelly. Carr will take on Kenny Minchey in the fight for Notre Dame’s QB1 role, which saw Steve Angeli tap out. He played in only one game last year, which means his CFB slate is still very much clean. He was recruited as a 4-star prospect, and the 5 QB in the class, per 247Sports. Carr’s prep career numbers indicate that he stands to make a good difference if he ends up being the Irish’s QB1. He comes with 8,135 total passing yards, according to his profile on Notre Dame. But all of that seems dim compared to his future competitor, Noah Grubbs.

Grubbs is Freeman’s first 2026 commit, who pledged to the Irish two years ago. He is all set to play his final season at Lake Mary High School. And based on his sheer dedication to put forward his best self, it looks like Carr will have his work cut out for a possible 2026 QB1 battle. “He’s looking the best he’s ever looked to me,” Baylin Trujillo, Grubbs’ trainer, told Irish Sports Daily. “He is over 200 pounds, 6 percent body fat. He’s doing different things; he’s doing a stretch circuit, then he goes and works out, then he goes into the cryo lab, and then he’s doing some type of cardio and then strength training,” he added.

2026 Notre Dame QB commit @NoahGrubbsQB has been working all offseason to get better in multiple aspects of his game.

“He’s looking the best he’s ever looked to me.” –@baylintrujillo https://t.co/Fh8l9sd7Vk

— Irish Sports Daily (@ISDUpdate) July 2, 2025

And that’s not all. Trujillo said the QB also plays golf daily, to “stay mentally sharp.” Grubbs looks like a QB ready to end his prep career on an extremely high note. “He’s doing three to four workouts a day about four or five days a week… He’s a whole unit right now. I would hate to be messing with him right now. He’s in the best shape he’s ever been in. He was in some pretty dang good shape last year, so it’s just getting better and better,” Trujillo raved about him. He also tagged along with Grubbs to a visit to South Bend, which shows that the man truly knows how developed he is.

Grubbs chose Notre Dame over offers from Ohio State, Penn State, Colorado, Miami, and many more. CJ Carr has a lot to prove this season, and his inexperience casts a lot of doubt over his performance this season. He looked good in the Spring game, but also displayed some flaws because of a troubled arm. In all, there’s a question mark at quarterback for Notre Dame’s 2025 season. Carr will not only have to show his worth in the team, but also lead the Irish back to the National Championship game, to meet the bar set by his predecessors. Nobody knows how long CJ Carr will stay at South Bend. That’s where Grubb’s prowess comes into play.

Grubbs already has 8287 passing yards and 103 TDs. And, he has one more season to go. Grubbs might already be the star that Notre Dame is in an alarming need of. “A lot of people get starstruck when they’re around him, and a lot of kids, obviously freshmen and sophomores, they care more about getting a picture with him in practice than they actually do learning the playbook and stuff,” Trujillo remarked. CJ Carr’s thunder can easily be stolen by Grubbs when he does arrive at South Bend in 2026.

Carr’s current situation isn’t looking so great either. Sometimes, he looks like a great replacement for Leonard and a good candidate to lead the Irish to their most-coveted destination. But his 2025 QB1 competitor, Kenny Minchey, is still part of the conversation.

Will Kenny Minchey share the Irish QB1 role with CJ Carr?

Even when Steve Angeli was part of this QB1 battle, experts sided with CJ Carr as their projected winner. But Kenny Minchey always remained in consideration. Notre Dame insider Tyler Horka said in a June 11 appearance on Andy & Ari, “I was one of the higher guys on the beat on Kenny Minchey,” Horka replied. “I saw his game and I said, ‘That could work. That could work at Notre Dame and that could work somewhere else.’ The fact that he’s still here, I think says a lot about him.”

There’s also a high chance of Marcus Freeman ending up with a plan that sees both the contenders split time as the Irish QB1. Horka presents an example of this hypothetical scenario. “I think you throw him out there against Miami and you say, ‘Hey, this is our guy, not just right now, but probably in the future as well.’ And you see what you got. And if you don’t got something that you like in a couple of quarters or that entire game, maybe you do start Kenny Minchey at some point.” Minchey and Carr are talents who were recruited during Freeman’s era, and they both bring different pros and cons to the table.

CJ Carr may be the projected choice for Notre Dame’s QB1. However, Freeman is going to judge him fairly against Kenny Minchey. But his future, however, still has uncertainty looming over it, courtesy of Noah Grubbs. The Fighting Irish faithful are watching closely to see if Carr can rise above the competition and become the leader they are counting on.