Just like that, the Notre Dame quarterback battle has come to an end with head coach Marcus Freeman selecting CJ Carr to be the starting quarterback in Week 1 against the Miami Hurricanes. Carr will make his first career start in that game, while Kenny Minchey will be his backup, and while some believe Carr was the right choice, others are surprised by it.
CBS Sports analyst and host of the Cover 3 podcast, Chris Patterson, was actually surprised to hear that Carr was named the starter over Minchey simply because of what was being reported out of fall camp.
"I'm surprised," Patterson said on CBS College Sports HQ. "He [Kenny Minchey] brought a performance that was consistent enough to really provide a challenge for a prospect in CJ Carr, who is a little bit more highly ranked and regarded coming out of high school."
For about a week now, it has been reported that Minchey was starting to take the lead in the battle over Carr, even though when it all started, it seemed like the job was Carr's to lose. It was reported that Minchey just had a better feel of the field and was throwing the ball better, but Freeman put all of that to bed by choosing Carr over Minchey.
"To all of a sudden have a position where Kenney Minchey is making a run at it, the other side of that is that CJ Carr just hadn't done enough to really grab hold of this job," Patterson said.
Patterson believes this will become an "iron sharpens iron" argument, where now Carr will be better because Minchey is right there behind him by bringing the competition that he did.
Chris Patterson knows Carr is a long term guy, but Notre Dame needs the top guy now
Patterson knows that Carr has the talent, which is why he is believed to potentially be a first-round NFL draft pick one day. He knows that Carr's long-term upside is huge, but with Notre Dame's schedule this season, they don't need long-term upside; they need instant results now.
However, that is not to say that Minchey is the instant results now because Minchey also has a lot of long-term upside. There is a belief that with what Minchey was showing at practice, he will bring those instant results now, especially facing No. 10 Miami at the start of the season and then No. 19 Texas A&M right after.