Notre Dame Football Mailbag: How CJ won the QB battle, strengths and weaknesses for Miami, and next career step for Mike Mickens
Latest Notre Dame Football mailbag
Head coach Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame football are only single digit days until the 2025 college football season officially kicks off against the Miami Hurricanes. These last few days are going to feel like forever, but the action is right in front of us. With it being so close to that August 31st battle against the Hurricanes, we are gaining a lot more clarity about what this Irish team will look like down in Hard Rock Stadium.
In this week’s mailbag, questions were posed about CJ Carr and the quarterback battle, the Miami Hurricanes, Mike Mickens’ future, and sophomore running back Aneyas Williams. As always, shout out to everyone who submitted questions. Let the games begin, well, almost.
CJ Carr and the QB battle
I am not in the business of downplaying someone’s hard work for months in a position battle. CJ Carr won the starting quarterback spot over Kenny Minchey, and he deserves all the credit for that. If the nature of the question centers around whether I believe that Carr won it handily, and had that moment Marcus Freeman talked about wanting someone to seize the job and make a statement, I don’t believe that happened. In the end, this staff sat down together, and it doesn’t sound like it was unanimous. In that sense, Carr won out in that debate. With it being so tight of a battle, I am curious to see just how long of a leash that the redshirt freshman gets if there is an early season struggle.
Aneyas Williams’ availability
Williams got banged up a little over a week ago, but he was backed at practice late last week. Unless something has happened behind the scenes, I expect him to be available for the Miami game. That aforementioned injury was more nagging than anything serious.
Next step for Mike Mickens
I would be pretty shocked if Coach Mickens wasn’t a defensive coordinator in five years, and sooner. I have no idea if that will be with Notre Dame, or somewhere else. He has the ambition for it, and Coach Mickens is a rising star in the sport. Let’s just hope he stays around South Bend as long as possible.
Delusional Miami fanbase
The great thing about College Football is the various rivalries, and the competitive hatred between the different fan bases. While Notre Dame and Miami don’t play a ton, everyone knows about “the Catholics vs the Convicts” and everything that rivalry details. With that in mind, Hurricane fans do have some hatred for the Fighting Irish. It also doesn’t help that Notre Dame got smashed last time these teams played. I just hope that Notre Dame makes a statement next Sunday for the lack of respect this offseason from the fans.
Breaking down Miami
The strongest position group, at least early in the season, should be the defensive line. Miami should be strong on the edge with Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor, and talented on the interior with rising sophomore Justin Scott. The defensive tackles should be good, but Notre Dame should be able to take advantage of them in the opener until they gain more experience. It’s a good unit overall.
While the secondary is more talented than last season, they are projected to start four new starters on the back end that they landed via the transfer portal. I’m sure that the secondary will be pretty good down the stretch of the season, but a brand new back end is going to be liable to some miscommunication early on. There are going to be opportunities to be had.
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Latest intel on the Miami Hurricanes that Notre Dame football fans will want to know heading into their Week One matchup
Latest Miami Hurricane Intel heading into their Week One matchup against Notre Dame
