Steve Angeli's shocking transfer decision settles Notre Dame's QB battle for good

We now have a new starting quarterback in South Bend. With Steve Angeli shockingly entering the transfer portal, it seems as though blue-chip sophomore CJ Carr will be leading the Notre Dame Fighting Irish out of the tunnel vs. traditional rival Miami in Week 1. Head coach Marcus Freeman had glowing things to say about all three quarterbacks after the spring game this past weekend, but only one was going to replace Riley Leonard this fall.

Angeli had been in South Bend for a few years now, playing for Freeman since he replaced Brian Kelly on the sidelines and even helping save the Irish's bacon in their College Football Playoff semifinal win over Notre Dame back in January. The thought was he might have the better grasp of Mike Denbrock's offense than Carr or Kenny Minchey right now, but Carr's undeniable talent was on full display in the Blue-Gold Game this past weekend. Angeli may have seen the writing on the wall and decided to transfer now.

In the wake of Nico Iamaleava leaving Tennessee, Angeli is not a bad consolation prize to be had. Angeli is the epitome of a precision passer; while the Josh Heupel Air Raid is a departure from the more pro-style offense Denbrock runs, a simpler scheme may get the most out of Angeli's talent. Of course, he still needs to transfer there. All we know is Carr has won the Irish starting job by default.

On3's Pete Nakos was all over Angeli's transfer portal entry, setting us up for the wildest spring ever.

For now, Notre Dame must be all-in on trying to set Carr up for success in year one as their starter.

Steve Angeli enters transfer portal, conceding the starting job to CJ Carr

Part of what made the Notre Dame quarterback battle so intriguing this spring is the Fighting Irish had multiple candidates capable of winning for them on fall Saturdays. Other teams would have loved to be in Freeman's position; he said it himself that he felt there was more than one good option to be had for the Golden Domers under center.

If there is any downside to this move for Notre Dame, it's if Carr is not yet ready for primetime. He always had the higher ceiling over Angeli, but the outgoing Notre Dame quarterback showed flashes of promise filling in for Leonard and Sam Hartman before that the last few years. Truth be told, I would not be surprised if Angeli found somewhere to play and start for next year very soon, Tennessee or not.

The one thing I keep going back to in this is Carr is going to be learning on the fly in this elevated role. He may grow into it, as I expect that he will do. However, Notre Dame does not have that large of a margin for error this fall as is. They need to win 11 or 12 regular-season games to merit obvious inclusion into the College Football Playoff. 10 wins could get them in some seasons, but not always.

For now, Freeman, Denbrock and the rest of the Notre Dame team needs to be all-in on Carr's growth.