SOUTH BEND —Gino Guidugli, entering his third season of coaching quarterbacks for Notre Dame football, channeled Allen Iverson when pressed for reaction to some early training camp mistakes.
“It’s practice,” Guidugli said. “I don’t trip over practice.”
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Those three interceptions CJ Carr threw in the opening round of his head-to-head battle with Kenny Minchey?
Practice.
Minchey’s pick over the middle into the waiting arms of Adon Shuler?
Practice.
“Sometimes in practice you have to figure out what you can and what you can’t do,” said Guidugli, a former quarterback himself. “Now, inside a quarterback competition, that’s got to be measured. But I’m always an advocate of figuring out: ‘Can I put that ball in that window? Can I make that throw vs. Cover 2?’ “
He gave another shrug.
“You’re going to have some mistakes in there,” he said, “but as long as we learn from those, we’re getting better.”
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An abundance of patience
Two decades removed from a record-setting career at the University of Cincinnati, Guidugli has worked with Carr and Minchey in their understudy roles over the past two seasons.
Minchey enrolled in January of 2023, when Wake Forest graduate transfer Sam Hartman was just hitting town. Carr, the top-50 national recruit and Michigan legacy, got a head start on his transition by enrolling during Sun Bowl prep in December of 2023.
The two prodigies have come so far in that time, a polished backup like fourth-year man Steve Angeli took the hint and headed off to Syracuse as a spring transfer.
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And yet, 10th-ranked Miami is right around the corner and the fifth-ranked Irish are still splitting first-team quarterback reps down the middle.
At what point, Guidugli was asked, does he, well, trip over practice performance? He shook his head slowly, surely.
“I don’t,” he said. “I don’t trip a lot about anything.”
Which is a great trait to have for a mentor of young quarterbacks. And yet, even Guidugli has his limits when it comes to his supply of patience.
“It’s when you make the same mistake twice,” he said. “When you’re not learning from the mistakes: ‘Hey, you tried to do that last week and got picked off. Why would you try to do that again?’
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“If the same mistake keeps rearing its head, it’s like, ‘OK, there’s either a problem with the way I’m teaching, the way you’re understanding it or you’re just not locked in. You’re not focused.’ “
Cavalcade of experienced quarterbacks
Guidugli has rarely (if ever) had to give that speech in his time at Notre Dame.
Then again, he’s never had a “trust beyond knowing” scenario quite like the one facing him and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, his longtime associate, in this high-profile, August QB Derby.
Over the past decade, even as their paths have crossed and diverged at various points, Guidugli and Denbrock have been remarkably blessed with experienced quarterback options.
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The past two years at Notre Dame, Hartman (2023) and Duke transfer Riley Leonard (2024) were brought in as ultra-reliable hired guns. There was no need for a QB bakeoff.
Before Denbrock returned to South Bend in December 2023, he guided Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels through two seasons at LSU, including a Heisman Trophy to cap it off.
Garrett Nussmeier was a redshirt freshman in 2022, when Daniels headed east with 723 career pass attempts through three seasons in Tempe. Daniels was the easy call.
Guidugli’s 2022 choice at Cincinnati was between ex-Bearcat backup Ben Bryant, an Eastern Michigan transfer with 481 career pass attempts at that point, and untested redshirt sophomore Evan Prater (11 pass attempts). Bryant won the job.
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From 2018-21, four-year starter Desmond Ridder had a stranglehold on the job for the Bearcats, taking them to the College Football Playoff as a senior. Denbrock was finishing up a five-year run as Luke Fickell’s OC at Cincinnati.
Hayden Moore was a two-year returning starter when Denbrock arrived in Cincinnati in 2017 and Guidugli coached running backs that year. Notably, Ridder had to wait until Moore struggled in the 2018 season opener at UCLA before taking over as a redshirt freshman.
Moore, with 904 career pass attempts heading into his senior year, won the job out of training camp.
In the summer of 2016, Guidugli’s final year at Central Michigan, three-year starter Cooper Rush was entrenched at quarterback. No tripping necessary.
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Harrowing stat: Three career pass attempts between QB options
For Denbrock, who coached receivers in 2015-16 at Notre Dame, even the 2014 decision to go with Everett Golson (318 career pass attempts) over redshirt freshman Malik Zaire (zero attempts) was straightforward.
Golson missed the 2013 season due to academic suspension after helping the 2012 team reach the BCS title game.
Minchey, it bears repeating, owns the only three career pass attempts between him and Carr.
“Our quarterback hasn’t started a college football game,” Guidugli said. “And we’ve got a lot of guys that are surrounding him that have. I think early in the season we have to lean on those guys and not put all the pressure on the quarterback.”
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Whether it’s Carr or Minchey, Minchey or Carr on the night of Aug. 31 in Miami, it seems reasonable to keep the air demands to a minimum.
“I think we got plenty of talent around him,” Guidugli said. “We have a great offensive line. We have a great backfield.”
The wise move?
“Just not making every snap life or death,” he said, “on a quarterback decision.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football QB coach Gino Guidugli sees no reason to panic
