Notre Dame Notebook: Irish Quarterbacks Talk Training Camp

Irish quarterbacks Sam Hartman, Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and Dylan Devezin share thoughts from fall training camp

Roughly 635 miles separate South Bend, Ind from Winston-Salem, N.C. Notre Dame and Wake Forest, the two schools that inhabit those culturally divergent cities, both occupy space together as private university in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the similarities don’t run much deeper than that. Especially when it comes to the profile of the football programs.

More specifically, when it comes to being the quarterback at those two fine academic institutions. Just ask Sam Hartman, who spent five years as the quarterback at Wake Forest and has become Notre Dame’s most high-profile player in his nine months on the Fighting Irish campus.

“Talking to former quarterbacks, they say it doesn’t really hit you ‘til you’re out of it,” Hartman said recently when asked when he realized being the Notre Dame quarterback is a big deal. “I think that first game day will be one of the ones where you see the magnitude, but you feel it when you travel. During the summer, I was out and about different areas and you see the Notre Dame emblem pretty much everywhere. It’s a special place. There is a special feel every time you sing the fight song, see the stadium, see touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome — all of that stuff. It’s been cool. It’s been a very cool experience.

“I don’t know when that will hit,” Hartman continued. “Not in a way that will cause some panic out there, but it’s just one of those things where you’re constantly growing. Constantly learning. I don’t think you ever — I guess I’m settled in, but I think I’m always learning.”

Pursued In The Portal

Hartman was one of the most in demand players in the transfer portal this offseason. He had 48 games of experience and a lot of numbers in Wake Forest’s slow mesh offense, but he was deemed not ready for the NFL due to being viewed as a system quarterback.

“The ultimate decision was to grow as a quarterback more,” Hartman said of being recruited in the portal last winter. “Obviously circumstances changed, but that’s all in the past. We’re in the future of today. The way things were, granted, you can transfer when a coach is going to leave when that happens. But it’s been what I wanted it to be. It’s been very challenging. A very new experience. Exciting experience. But it’s all the stuff that I wanted. That was to prepare myself for the next level but also compete at a high level here and play at Notre Dame. That’s something I can say for the rest of my life, that I’ve been on this football team and been a part of this university. It’s just been special. Getting on campus for the first time, it felt special. And really being around the guys, it’s a different group and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.”

The New Kid In Town

At the other end of Notre Dame’s quarterback spectrum sits walk-on Dylan Devezin. The sophomore enrolled as a freshman at Notre Dame for the fall semester and didn’t become part of the football team until walk-on tryouts last winter.

“There was a partnership with St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, my alma mater,” Devezin explained. “I came (to Notre Dame) on an academic scholarship. I was in touch with some of the coaches beforehand, but there was no roster spot open. I was a normal student for a semester and during spring training, there was a need at quarterback when guys left and I was lucky enough to get called in.

”I had a couple Division III offers,” Devezin continued. “Belhaven College and Millsaps in Mississippi. I bet on my education and came to Notre Dame.”

Hands Of A Holder

Devezin is Notre Dame’s fourth quarterback behind Hartman, Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey, but his hands quickly won him a job as the holder on field goals and extra points. It’s quite a bonus that he didn’t anticipate when he made the team.

”I thought I’d be here every Saturday and I wouldn’t have much of a role,” Devezin said. “But I’m blessed to have the role I do.”

It’s not a responsibility Devezin takes for granted. He worked diligently with long snapper Michael Vinson and USF transfer kicker Spencer Shrader on the snap, catch, placement, and kick operation all summer.

“After summer workouts, we stay a little later and come in the facility,” Devezin explained. “We get some work in and we go in early before practice.

”We catch 90 over every spot,” he continued. “Thirty (snaps) at every spot. Thirty on the left hash, 30 on the right hash and 30 in the middle.”

No Crash Course For Angeli

Steve Angeli elevated on the depth chart after Tyler Buchner transferred to Alabama. The sophomore is vying with freshman Kenny Minchey to hold the No. 2 spot behind Hartman. When asked about his growth and development during training camp, Angeli sounded like he may have gone to the “Crash Davis” course of stock phrase answers.

“I think every day my goal is just to go out there, one day at a time and just focus on my job, focus on every rep I have and do the best I can to just continue to improve and be the best I can for this team every day,” Angeli responded.

“Just getting more opportunities to show what I can do and execute the plays and just earn more trust from the coaches every practice,” he continued. “Every rep I do I just try to compete and do my job.”

While Angeli is competing with Minchey for the backup job, he has no problem working with and helping the freshman’s development.

“I remember when I was in Kenny's situation asking the guys that were above me,” Angeli explained. “Just trying to do the best I can to answer any of his questions and bring him along the way and just do whatever I can to help him be great.”

Minchey’s Big Adventure

The trip to Notre Dame from Hendersonville, Tenn is an easy one for Minchey. It’s a lot farther, and a bit more daunting, trip to Dublin, Ireland for Notre Dame’s season opener against Navy as far as the freshman is concerned.

“I was actually thinking about the other day,” Minchey said of this month’s flight to Dublin. “It actually popped into my head, like I'm actually going to Ireland, which I'm not a big fan of planes and flying overseas. We'll see how it goes.”

Minchey says his longest previous travel abroad was to Mexico and he was not a big fan of the trip.

As for his on field work, Minchey, who enrolled early at Notre Dame in the spring, has started to build chemistry with a group of freshman receivers.

“I would say, during the spring, I'd say I clicked with Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores,” Minchey began. “They were guys that I could depend on and they were guys that like to throw to. Then during this fall camp Jordan Faison, he's a walk-on receiver. He's been making a lot of plays, and he's really fast, so I feel like he's been catching everybody's eye.”

Faison has shown exceptional speed in training camp, but Minchey isn’t ready to crown him the team’s fastest player.

“Either him or Chris Tyree,” Minchey estimated. “But I don't know. But he's fun to go out there with and he's explosive. So, who I'm getting the most reps with right now.”

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