Notre Dame QB Kenny Minchey Confident Heading Into Spring Ball

Notre Dame quarterback recruiting has been all over the map in recent years, but the Irish have started to put the pieces together to form a solid room. 

Kenny Minchey flipping to Notre Dame late in the recruiting was crucial to the development of the room as the program didn’t have a quarterback commit heading into the home stretch of the 2023 recruiting cycle. 

The Tennessee native is much more than a depth piece as Minchey won the Pro Day section at the Elite 11 before being named one of the nation’s 11 best signal-callers following the competition. 

Minchey isn’t afraid of competition and knew he would be competing with quality quarterbacks ahead and behind him when he enrolled at Notre Dame. 

“Having confidence in my ability, regardless of who’s in the room with me, who’s ahead of me, coming in, I have confidence in myself in what I can do and what I need to do,” stated Minchey. “I don’t think it’s a big factor who’s around me, but being smart about being in the right place. I feel like I trust my parents in that, so that’s why I’m here.” 

Notre Dame flipping Minchey from Pitt didn’t happen quickly as the former four-star prospect was more than happy with his commitment to the Panthers, but his parents wanted to make sure he was making the best decision. 

Minchey listened. 

“As the season went on and I kept having conversations with my parents who kept pushing for Notre Dame and I was the one kind of pushing away from it,” explained Minchey. “I just kept having talks with them and throughout all this, Coach Rees and Coach Freeman were hitting me up every few days, every day, just trying to get in contact with me.

“After a bunch of talks with my parents, Coach Rees had texted me again, randomly, out of the blue and I told my parents. Then I was up there the next weekend.” 

Notre Dame’s history and tradition are always part of the puzzle, but for the Minchey family, it came down to other aspects of the university. 

“It’s Notre Dame,” Minchey stated. “My mom more so on the academic side of life after football. My dad just kind of like, you hear Notre Dame and you’re going to think big-time football and you’re going to be around good playmakers, good coaches that would set me up for success.” 

Minchey has come to love his decision and is starting to get back on the field after dealing with a dislocated shoulder in the fall. The injury cost him most of the regular season and then he suffered a bone bruise in his first playoff game, which ended his season and the chance to play in the All-American Bowl. 

“Bone bruises vary,” Minchey explained. “You can’t really put a point on a time of when you’re going to be back 100 percent. Over time, it will heal. It’s not a serious injury but I’m just reconditioning my arm. Some days I’ll wake up and it’s sore. That’s what happens when you’re getting back into something. It’s kind of like lifting weights when you haven’t lifted in a while.” 

The 6-foot-1, 212-pounder is known for his accuracy and Minchey takes great pride in being able to put the ball where it needs to go. 

“I just feel like wherever I need to throw the ball or wherever I feel the ball needs to go, I can just trust my arm to get there,” said Minchey. “It doesn’t really cross my mind in a game because it’s all second nature.” 

Minchey is also a football junkie as Tommy Rees described on signing day. The love for football wasn’t something Minchey had to learn, but it just happened over the course of time. 

“I guess you could say football came easy to me,” stated Minchey. “I love watching football. If I’m not here, in my dorm, maybe turn on a game. Watching games from last year, watching good quarterbacks, stuff like that. I just feel like once you watch something enough, I feel like it makes sense to you.” 

As for the coaching changes since he enrolled at Notre Dame, it’s never easy to see coaches come and go, but Minchey factored that in when he committed to the Irish. 

“There was a lot of change, but I don’t think that changes my decision or anything,” said Minchey. “Coach Freeman kind of gave me the spiel of if you come here, you would be choosing Notre Dame and I know as well as everybody else knows, quarterback coaches, OCs, coaches change all the time and I have to be bought into the actual place and not the like the people.

“Coach Rees was one of the main sellers of me coming here, but I know that stuff changes and I have to pick the spot and not the people.” 

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