There's a quarterback battle going on in South Bend, and while it's impact won't draw the same attention as last season's battle for the starting job, it's importance is still valid. With Notre Dame losing both Kenny Minchey  and Steve Angeli  in back to back off-seasons, the Irish are in need of a viable backup to returning starter CJ Carr  who is expected to be one of the top signal callers in the country. This spring, we saw a two-way battle between rising redshirt freshman Blake Hebert  and early enrollee true freshman Noah Grubbs .

Hebert was a member of the 2025 recruiting cycle after Notre Dame flipped him from Clemson. The 6-2, 216-pound quarterback physically looked the part coming into South Bend, but he needed a lot of growth and development before he stepped into a larger role. Now, he'll battle it out with Grubbs and summer arrival Teddy Jarrard  for the No. 2 quarterback spot for the 2026 season.

WHAT WE LEARNED

It was a very up and down spring from Hebert, but he ended on a high note in the 95th annual Blue-Gold game a week ago. He had the throw of the day where he layered a shot into the endzone over linebacker Teddy Rezac  who's 6-3, 226-pounds and safety Luke Talich  who's 6-4, 222-pounds into a perfect window for wide receiver Elijah Burress . Hebert also had some of the head-scratching misses of the day throwing a slide route to a running back into the first and missing a couple of wide open receivers.

That was a microcosm of Hebert's spring. There were throws he made during the open practice sessions we got to see that looked very impressive. Then, there were some other throws where he still looked like an early-enrollee true freshman. This spring, we learned that Hebert absolutely has the God-given talent to play quarterback at Notre Dame, and his strong end to the spring gave me a lot of hope about the future at the No. 2 quarterback spot. But early on, I'll be honest, it was a question mark.

We didn't get to see Hebert in much capacity during the jersey scrimmage a couple of weeks ago and in the moments we did see him, prior to the spring game, he was very inconsistent. The Massachusetts native needed the performance he had in the spring game to instill confidence moving forward into summer workouts and into fall camp.

REMAINING QUESTIONS

The battle for the No. 2 quarterback spot is still largely undecided. The biggest question for Hebert will be his ability to build on his strong performance in the Blue-Gold game. For the majority of spring, Grubbs held the upper hand due to his performance throughout practice, and I believe that Grubbs is in pole position for the spot heading into summer workouts. But the reason why it's still undecided is the talent and potential of Hebert.

Due to his skillset, I think Hebert would be the more suitable backup for Carr in 2026. His added abilities as a runner give you a skillset at the quarterback position the other three guys in the room don't have. Don't get me wrong, Carr, Grubbs and Jarrard who will be on campus in the next couple of weeks, are athletic enough to move the chains on third down with their legs, but Hebert can have designed run plays called during games.

Wining the No. 2 job doesn't indicate who the starter will be once Carr leaves for the NFL, whenever that may be. In my eyes, it's just for this season, and we've seen that. Angeli was the backup to Riley Leonard in 2024 but didn't win the job for 2025. But for Hebert to win that job this offseason, he'll have to get more consistent, improve his footwork and slow down his mechanics from time to time. If he does those things, especially improve his footwork in the pocket, he'll have a strong chance of seizing the backup spot.

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