SOUTH BEND ― We didn’t see it until we saw it.
It was summer 1993, a simpler era of Notre Dame football. The Loftus Center indoor facility seemed state of the art, stadium capacity was 59,075, and almost every minute of every practice was open to the media. What a concept. What a time.
It was then that media and players and coaches would trudge, often side by side, to and from the practice field. Head coach Lou Holtz would zoom past in his golf cart, often leaving a trail of pipe smoke. Offensive line coach Joe Moore would breeze by in his comp car, which he would park along a fence at the back of one end zone.
It was there on those practice fields where everyone assumed that the starting quarterback that season would be a freshman phenom from Western Pennsylvania by the name of Ron Powlus. Few were certain about what they’d see from that ‘93 team, but we’d probably see Powlus under center.
He was the chosen one.
A broken collarbone suffered when Powlus was buried under a pass rush in the final scrimmage seven days before the season opener scrapped that plan. It opened the door for a career backup known more for his BMX talents. Nobody gave the guy the time of day. Nobody likely even asked him the time of day over his first three seasons.
Kevin McDougal seemed just another guy.
While the Powlus hype swirled, McDougal was quietly cementing confidence among the offensive linemen, through the locker room and with the coaching staff. Like, we could win with K-Mac.
Notre Dame won with McDougal, won almost every time out in 1993, won right up until a certain left-footed kicker from Boston College split the uprights and cost Notre Dame a national championship. Thanks, David Gordon.
McDougal, the career backup, the guy no one saw coming, was magical that season. He made the most of an opportunity few thought he’d ever see.
Fast forward 23 years to 2018 when another Notre Dame quarterback competition centered on average recruit Ian Book and all-everything Brandon Winbush. Everyone figured the job would go to Winbush, who could run and pass and confuse defenses like nobody since maybe Tony Rice in the early 1990s.
Book seemed just another guy.
We didn’t see until we saw.
At a practice inside the stadium on a Saturday morning in August, the quarterbacks were in a drill that demanded they throw screen passes into several spots at a nearby net. Wimbush missed high. He missed low. He missed wide. He missed, to the point where you wondered if he was just clowning the media. It couldn’t be that complicated.
Book handled throws with relative ease. Pinpoint ease. Poise ease. Book left Notre Dame in 2020 as the winningest quarterback ― 30 wins and two College Football Playoff appearances ― in program history.
With McDougal and with Book, you didn’t see until you saw. You didn’t know until you knew.
That brings us to Notre Dame football 2025.
Questions about what we will see come fall from Notre Dame spray everywhere. Can the defense pick up under first-year coordinator Chris Ash where it left off under Al Golden? Who will be captains? Will this team finish what it started last season in getting this close to the school’s first national championship since 1988?
Oh, and who will play quarterback? Nothing else may matter as Notre Dame looks to build off last season’s 14-2 run.
The assumption following the transfer portal departure of veteran Steve Angeli, who landed at Syracuse, is the job will go to freshman CJ Carr. He’s big and he’s strong and he’s athletic and accurate and he seems built to handle everything that comes with being the Notre Dame quarterback.
Somewhere down the line in early August, nobody would be surprised if head coach Marcus Freeman steps to the podium inside Notre Dame Stadium, which no longer holds 59,075, and tabs Carr to be the guy to lead Notre Dame into Hard Rock Stadium against Miami (Fla.) on August 31.
Don’t sleep on sophomore Kenny Minchey, long considered one of the other guys in the QB room, but likely never the main guy. When it was time to talk to the quarterbacks in 2023, it was important to get with graduate transfer Sam Hartman and Angeli, his backup. When it was time to talk to the quarterbacks in 2024, it was important to hear from graduate transfer Riley Leonard and, hey, there’s Carr.
Minchey always off to the sider someone who got maybe a question or two or three. A backup, the third guy in a two-quarterback competition. He seemed destined for the portal whenever he realized that it wasn’t going to work.
It may work.
Minchey has quietly gone from a non-story to a potentially great story. Like McDougal. Like Book. He can run. He can throw. He can backflip to celebrate a score. It will be Carr or Minchey in South Florida. Minchey, like Angeli in recent seasons, carries himself like a capable quarterback. That lost look he showed into earlier meetings with the media is gone.
In its place is a confidence that knows the offense. That he can run the offense. That he can be the guy. He looks the part, but can he play it? His next start at Notre Dame will be his first start at Notre Dame. That’s a big leap, but there’s something about Minchey that makes you believe he can stick the landing.
Nobody saw McDougal coming. Nobody saw Book coming. Both were guys that were dismissed and doubted. The same once was thought of Minchey.
Just when you think you know …
We may not see it until we see it. Again.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
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