Notre Dame football is off to a rock-solid 6-0 start on the season after a great regular season with C.J. Carr at quarterback in 2025. While he has been stellar for the Irish and has emerged as a Heisman Trophy candidate and an NFL Draft prospect, Carr very nearly wasn't even the starting QB for Marcus Freeman in 2025.
Before the 2025 season, Carr and Kenny Minchey staged a tightly-contested competition for the QB1 job in South Bend. Carr eventually won the job, and Minchey transferred to Kentucky this offseason. Now, he is playing some of the best football in the entire country and has the Wildcats at 5-1 and ranked No. 15 in the country in the latest AP poll.
On Monday, Freeman was asked about his old quarterback and gave him his flowers for his hot start to the season in Lexington, via ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
“I couldn't be more proud for him,” Freeman said. “Kenny is a dang good quarterback and a heck of a football player. I hope he continues to have that success.”
Minchey has become somewhat of a comeback kid over the last few weeks at Kentucky. He led the Wildcats to comeback victories in overtime over South Carolina and LSU, both with final scores of 35-34. As a result, he has Kentucky right in the middle of the College Football Playoff race in Will Stein's first season as head coach.
Article Continues BelowFreeman has this Notre Dame team in the middle of the same race to get into the 12-team bracket. The Irish have rolled through six games so far this season, as expected, but now have a much tougher section of the schedule coming up. The Irish have a brutal road test coming up in Week 7 against another top 10 team in BYU, and at the beginning of November they will host Miami (FL).
In order to make the CFP, Notre Dame needs to win one of those two games. If it does get into the postseason, maybe Freeman and Minchey will get to reunite on the field in December or January.