One afternoon in South Texas and one evening in South Florida made one morning in South Bend last month awkwardly unnecessary for one Notre Dame football player.
Junior quarterback Steve Angeli stayed true to form, offering handshake greetings to a trio of writers that he has talked with maybe six, seven, eight times during his collegiate career.
“Hi, I’m Steve. Good to see you again.”
“Steve. Good to see you again.”
Angeli the old guy carried himself like the new guy. In today’s transfer portal world of college athletics — don’t like your situation at one school, find a new one at another — that Angeli was still at Notre Dame, still competing for the starting job, still introducing himself to reporters whose faces he’s seen and questions he’s fielded for three seasons was a bit … refreshing.
Why is he still here?
“Ahh, I don’t know,” Angeli said with a laugh. “I love it. That’s all I know. I think I’m exactly where I was meant to be right now. Notre Dame is the place for me.”
The place as a quarterback. As the starting quarterback. If the age-old sports adage that there is no substitute for experience is true, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Angeli’s days as a substitute are done. For three years, he watched someone more experienced, more seasoned, more game ready earn the Notre Dame starting quarterback job.
He was always the other guy. The young guy. Now he’s the old guy. He should be the guy.
Every day since he arrived as an early enrollee from Bergen (N.J.) Catholic High School, Angeli carried himself like the starter. Not Tyler Buchner and then Drew Pyne in 2022. Not Sam Hartman in 2023. Not Riley Leonard last season as Notre Dame came this close to winning its first national championship since 1988.
What makes him believe he should be the starter this year?
“I put in a lot of work,” he said. “I think I’ve been a great teammate throughout my years here. Not that I deserve this right now; I’m working toward it. I still have to earn it.
“It’s a great opportunity. I’m just looking to seize the moment.”
Seize it, not shy away from it. Angeli knows no other way.
Angeli became the de facto starter for the 2023 Sun Bowl when Hartman opted out to chase his NFL dreams. All Angeli did that December day in El Paso in his only career start was complete 15 of 19 for 232 yards and three touchdowns. He ran eight times for 27 yards. He should’ve been the game’s most valuable player, an honor that went to wideout Jordan Faison.
Nothing about that moment fazed Angeli. He went to work that winter, then went back to waiting that spring.
Then the second quarter of the 2025 Orange Bowl happened. Leonard was knocked silly for a series and Notre Dame needed Angeli. He carried confidence onto the field, commanded the huddle and completed six of seven passes for 44 yards to engineer a critical 13-play, 52-yard drive that ended in a field goal and Notre Dame’s first points in a 10-3 game at halftime.
Another moment that wasn’t too big for Steady Steve.
“I went in and just did my job,” he said. “If my number’s called, there is no thought. It’s already muscle memory. Walk in and operate.”
Don’t think that series against Penn State, which had owned the game to that point, didn’t go unnoticed by the coaching staff, by the guys returning to that huddle this spring.
If there is a sliver of separation between Angeli and fellow quarterbacks CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey, there it is. In El Paso. In Miami Gardens. Steady Steve stayed steady.
“If you’ve got a guy that’s been in there and done it and had success, that speaks to the people around you,” quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli said. “There’s a little more credibility that comes with it.
“You can do great things in seven-on-seven or do great things throwing one-on-one but until you do it in that stadium with 80,000 people screaming at you and people coming off the ball trying to slam you into the ground, it matters.”
Angeli has done it. Will he do it when Notre Dame returns to South Florida on Labor Day Sunday night against Miami (Fla.)? Spring practice won’t decide the starter. Summer workouts won’t decide the starter. That decision might not be made until early in preseason camp.
It might be Minchey. It might be Carr.
It should be Angeli.
What he’s done, how he’s planned and prepared, how he’s worked and waited, is easy to admire. Not many guys (maybe not any) would’ve stayed and battled and believed. This may be his only chance. One chance is all he wants. Needs.
He’s so ready to run with it.
On the outside, you see the quarterback room and think it’s Angeli vs. Carr. It’s Angeli vs. Minchey. It’s Angeli vs. Everybody. Angeli approaches it with a different viewpoint.
“Being the starting quarterback, someone’s always chasing you and you’re always chasing somebody,” he said. “In my mind, the biggest competition isn’t with you and the other guys. It’s you and you.
“I can control only what I can control.”
That would be his mindset. The intangibles of putting in the time. Of working toward the opportunity. His ability to do the job when expected to do the job. His leadership in the huddle and in the locker room. His ability to make plays, to make throws. His understanding of how to operate at an elite level. That’s a lot.
All that remains is a chance to show it.
“My career here, I’ve chosen hard every time,” Angeli said. “I’m not going to stop as long as I’m still here. I’m just here to compete.”
No introductions needed.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
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