Notre Dame Quarterbacks Coach Gino Guidugli Is Showing Elite Recruiting Skills
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Coming into the 2025 season, there were some questions around Notre Dame's quarterback coach Gino Guidugli. The former Cincinnati quarterback was hired back in the spring of 2023 and did a solid job his first two seasons. But assessing his overall performance has been difficult. His first year in South Bend, they had a portal quarterback in Sam Hartman who came over from Wake Forest. His second year, he had another portal quarterback in Riley Leonard who came over from Duke.
There was talent waiting in the wings between Kenny Minchey and current starting quarterback CJ Carr, but neither of those players were recruited by Guidugli. However, things have started to turn around for Notre Dame's quarterback coach over the last couple of seasons, especially on the recruiting trail and right now, he's recruiting just about as well as anyone on the coaching staff.
In the 2025 class, Guidugli was able to flip former Clemson quarterback commit Blake Hebert late in the recruiting process. Hebert was a four-star rated recruit by ESPN and considered the No. 2 ranked player in Connecticut in the 2025 recruiting cycle. The 6-2, 216-pound quarterback is currently in a battle for the No. 2 job this offseason and it will carry over into the summer. The level of competition is high, and the job wouldn't be won in the spring because of another recruit Guidugli brought to South Bend.
In the 2026 recruiting cycle, he was able to bring in Florida native Noah Grubbs who was named Florida's 'Mr. Football' after his senior year of high school. Grubbs also threw the game-winning Hail Mary in the state championship game and beat Vero Beach, a high school we'll talk about here soon. The 6-4, 209-pound freshman was rated a four-star recruit by ESPN and a Top 300 player in the country according to ESPN. Coming out of spring, Grubbs is considered to be in pole position to win the No. 2 job, but a fellow 2026 recruit adds his name to the hat this summer.
The last six months, Guidugli has really turned up the heat on the recruiting trail and it started back in December of 2025 when former top 2027 quarterback recruit reclassified to the 2026 class, and that's Georgia native Teddy Jarrard. Before he reclassified, Jarrard was considered one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2027 class. After he reclassified, On3/Rivals and ESPN still had him ranked as a Top 15 quarterback in the 2026 class and a four-star recruit.
This past Friday, Guidugli had another huge win on the recruiting trail getting a commitment from four-star quarterback Champ Monds from Vero Beach. Monds was originally a 2028 quarterback commit, but reclassified to the 2027 class shortly after Jarrard reclassified himself. Those two events aren't connected and Notre Dame played their cards right and landed both. Monds has all the physical tools to be successful in South Bend and still has his senior year of high school to go through.
You combine the recruiting success with the on-field success the quarterbacks currently under or had previous years under Guidugli's tutelage, the picture starts to become clear. Notre Dame's quarterbacks coach is quickly rising in the ranks as one of the top offensive assistant coaches in the country. Now, it's time to continue the success on the recruiting trail in the 2028 class, develop the young talent that's in the room and coming in and get Carr to the next level.
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