Position breakdown: Healthy Riley Leonard heads up deep Notre Dame football QB unit

SOUTH BEND — Put it this way: Notre Dame football suddenly has so much talent at quarterback, the only way back onto the team for Tyler Buchner this summer was as a walk-on wide receiver.

Riley Leonard, the Duke senior transfer, enjoyed a healthy training camp that made those two offseason ankle procedures little more than a footnote. His one-and-done stopover in South Bend could easily eclipse Sam Hartman’s 2023 output, and Jack Coan’s sneaky-good 11-2 mark in 2021 seems endangered as well.

“(Leonard) has better arm strength than I had anticipated,” quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli said. “He doesn’t look fast, but he’s out there out-running safeties and corners to the edge. And it’s like, ‘Man, he’s faster than you think.’ It’s deceiving.”

CJ Carr: How a women's Olympic hurdles champion inspires Notre Dame football freshman QB

Should the injury bug bite Leonard again, however, Mike Denbrock’s offense won’t be rudderless.

Third-year backup Steve Angeli, who led the Irish to a Sun Bowl win over Oregon State, bucked the modern trend by rejecting the transfer portal and remains a solid insurance policy.

Top-50 signee CJ Carr enrolled way back in December, has already added 15 pounds of muscle and seems to gain confidence with each passing week.

And redshirt freshman Kenny Minchey, maybe the best off-platform passer of the group, became a scout-team legend with his USC week approximation of future Chicago Bear Caleb Williams.

“All four of those guys are super-talented,” Guidugli said. “We’re blessed to have a quarterback room with as much talent as we have.”

Finding sufficient practice repetitions for the backups was a challenge in preseason camp and will only grow more difficult once the games start.

“I have to help Kenny and CJ,” Guidugli said. “Even when we get into the season, we have to keep developing every guy in that room. You’re always one play away. Their development is just as important as the guy in the front of the room.”

Follow @MikeBerardino on social media.

Projected Notre Dame football quarterback depth chart

13 | QB | Riley Leonard | 6-4, 216 | Sr. (1L)

18 | QB | Steve Angeli | 6-2, 205 | R-So. (3L)

8 | QB | Kenny Minchey | 6-2, 207 | R-Fr. (4L)

12 | QB | CJ Carr | 6-3, 210 | Fr. (4L)

Projected starter in bold

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Position breakdown: Healthy Riley Leonard heads up deep Notre Dame football QB unit