Make no mistake, no matter how well sophomore quarterback Steve Angeli played in Notre Dame’s emphatic 40-8 win against No. 19 Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on Friday, and he did play remarkably well, Duke transfer Riley Leonard will be the Irish starter in 2024.
Angeli played well enough it was a bit of a surprise he was not named the Sun Bowl MVP, and not just because the CBS broadcast mistakenly suggested he would in the closing minutes of the game. Completing 15-of-19 passes for 232 yards and three touchdowns cannot be diminished in any way, not to mention adding 47 rushing yards on six carries (sacks adjusted).
Angeli did more than fill in for Sam Hartman — with the latter watching from the sideline and somewhat acknowledging during an on-air broadcast the primary reason he opted out of the bowl game may have been to give Angeli a moment to shine. Angeli got the No. 16 Irish (10-3) an early lead and then, after a few stumbling drives, played mistake-free football aside from one sack that a more experienced quarterback likely would have evaded.
“He’s resilient,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. “He’s prepared. He’s ready for his opportunity and went out and showed that he can be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame”
He can be.
But Angeli won’t be in 2024. Like Hartman a year ago, the Irish did not chase down arguably the top quarterback on the market this winter for Duke transfer Riley Leonard to not start at Texas A&M on Aug. 31, 2024. (246 days, to revive an annual offseason gimmick around here.)
That is a reality, not a debate. Leonard’s praises can be sung another day. Angeli’s Friday afternoon deserves a bit more credit, most particularly his opening drive.
For that matter, interim offensive coordinator and long-term quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli deserves a bit of credit for that, too. Successful opening drives should not be heralded too loudly for individual performances, given the helpful nature of an opening script, but Notre Dame assuredly did not anticipate first snapping the ball from its own four-yard-line. Angeli and Guidugli handled it with aplomb, three rushes getting the Irish out of a truly dangerous area — something Oregon State could not muster in the fourth quarter — before Angeli connected with freshman receiver Jordan Faison for a 55-yard gain.
Angeli then eventually found junior receiver Jayden Thomas for an eight-yard touchdown.
And there may be the true difference shown in El Paso. Angeli may not start in 2024, the incoming transfer will, but perhaps Faison and/or Thomas will, no matter the arriving presences of Clemson receiver Beaux Collins and Florida International receiver Kris Mitchell.
That is not an overreaction to the dominant Sun Bowl, though Faison and Thomas combining for nine catches on 11 targets for 175 yards and two touchdowns while freshman Jaden Greathouse caught both his targets, as well, should warrant plenty of acknowledgement. Rather, it is reaction to how well each of those three have played when healthy.
That qualifier has been a massive one for Thomas and Greathouse, both slowed mightily by problematic hamstrings this season. Faison dodged that worry, though the former walk-on/scholarship lacrosse player still needed to prove himself plenty to earn Saturday (or, this week, Friday) playing time.
“You got to bet on yourself and keep working, no matter what happens or what comes your way,” Faison said.
Ever since Faison lined up on the field at Louisville — thus turning a partial lacrosse scholarship into a full football scholarship — his bet has paid off, both literally and figuratively. Including the Sun Bowl, he finished the season with 19 catches for 322 yards and four touchdowns in just seven games. For context, those numbers rank No. 5, No. 4 and No. 2 on the Irish roster, respectively.
Extrapolation is a folly’s way of looking at college football, but suffice it to assume a full season of Faison could have led Notre Dame in every receiving category, a full season of him now being available in 2024 without any scholarship wonders.
Angeli finds Faison
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 29, 2023
Another Irish touchdown ☘️#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/etsKpMG5IZ
The same might be said of Thomas, who finished the year with 21 catches for 310 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games, but more sincerely, he caught 16 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns in five healthy games. Thomas’s balky hamstring effected him that much more than Greathouse’s plagued him. But when healthy, Thomas was able to again confound announcers about his position.
And therein may be the trick to the Irish finding enough passes for each of Collins, Mitchell, Faison, Thomas and Greathouse, not to mention a trio of incoming freshmen led by No. 35 overall prospect in the class Cam Williams, per rivals.com.
When CBS play-by-play announcer Gary Danielson described Thomas late in the first quarter, after Thomas had caught his third catch for 48 total yards and one touchdown, he may have been hitting the nail too squarely on the head.
“He’s a big dude,” Danielson said. “He looks like a tight end more than a wide receiver.”
It is a mistake broadcast booths have made the last two seasons, one doubled and tripled down on by the halftime show. And it is a mistake: Thomas is a receiver.
But treating him like a tight end may solve multiple Notre Dame worries in 2024. Mitchell Evans tearing his ACL in October likely will still slow the junior tight end once the season starts, thus amplifying the impact of sophomore tight end Holden Staes’s outgoing transfer. The Irish have tight ends, namely current sophomore Eli Raridon, but adding a body with a knack for making catches in the second level of the defense yet still in the middle of the field would be a way to get another target on the field.
1️⃣8️⃣ ➡️ 8️⃣3️⃣
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 29, 2023
TOUCHDOWN IRISH#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/VXYdfR1TEX
And that will be the key for the Irish to best utilize Leonard. Give him options aplenty and his dual-threat worries will put defenses in utterly confounding dilemmas.
Such a slight wrinkle could give Notre Dame depth at every offensive skill position in 2024, a previously unprecedented luxury, one only possible thanks to pulling in five receivers in the last month between the two transfers and the three signed recruits.
The Irish have no worries in the backfield; sophomore Jadarian Price taking 13 carries for 106 yards and a score against Oregon State underscored that. And the new-look offensive line, one led by freshman left tackle Charles Jagusah in his first career, certainly held its own against a largely-intact Beavers defensive line.
Notre Dame knows it has a top-tier defense, one with five returning veteran starters next season that could become six if unanimous All-American safety Xavier Watts joins the crowd. Leonard’s floor is as high as any quarterback’s in 2024. The depth of offensive line talent has never been doubted.
But the Irish seeing a few receivers star with Angeli establishes a new possible ceiling for Marcus Freeman’s third year in charge. Faison can no longer be denied as a contributor. A healthy Thomas has always found a way to square up passes with his wide frame. And their presences, joined with the December haul, just may give Notre Dame the quantity it has long lacked to go along with its quality.
Winning a 10th game in the Sun Bowl was a peg the program can hang a proverbial hat on. Doing it with a relative offensive explosion may change the outlook for next season.
Sugary sweet victory #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/yHqm97xBC0
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 29, 2023
