Post Spring Takeaways: Notre Dame Quarterback Blake Hebert

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.