In-depth on Steve Angeli: Notre Dame QB commit off to hot start
BlueandGold.com was in New Jersey to see a trio of Notre Dame commits. Class of 2023 safety Adon Shuler’s Irvington (N.J.) High squad fell to to Flanders (N.J.) Mount Olive 2-0 on Sept. 3. Shuler had a strong performance and notched three tackles and a pass deflection.
The following day, we saw Oradell (N.J.) Bergen Catholic dismantle Smyrna (Del.) High 52-6. While Smryna was outmatched against Bergen Catholic, they’re not a bad football team by any stretch. MaxPreps ranks Smyrna as the No. 2 team in the state of Delaware.
Bergen Catholic is just on a different level. Ranked as the No. 6 team in the entire country by MaxPreps, the Crusaders have a pair of Notre Dame commits in the 2022 class in quarterback Steve Angeli and defensive back Jayden Bellamy.
A suffocating Bergen Catholic defensive line did not allow Smryna class of 2023 quarterback Cameron Edge to throw the ball much down field. In one target he threw Bellamy’s way, the Irish pledge broke up the pass. Bellamy made five tackles as well.
Angeli was outstanding in the contest. His passing stats were padded by screen plays that went for 93 and 92 yards, but Angeli completed 14 of 15 attempts for 360 yards and five touchdowns.
“My receivers were getting open, and Coach Vito [Campanile] called a great game and set up great pass plays,” Angeli told Blue & Gold following the game. “I was able to deliver the ball to my receivers. We threw the ball short in the beginning and watched our guys run and take off. Once [the defense] started to come down, we started putting it over their heads and take shots. We completed them, scored touchdowns and put points on the board.”
In week one Aug. 27, Bergen Catholic traveled to Akron, Ohio to face Archbishop Hoban — the No. 4 team in Ohio per MaxPreps — and Angeli’s squad came out on top 42-7.
After incompletions on his first two attempts, Angeli completed his next 14 passes — a school record for completions in a row — and totaled 195 passing yards in two and a half quarters. He also added a rushing touchdown and finished 14 of 16 passing.
“I feel like this is the best team in the state of New Jersey, and we’ve proven ourselves out of state already,” Angeli said. “I believe this is one of the better teams Bergen Catholic has seen in its history. It’s all just talk for now; we have to go out and prove it every Saturday. I’m excited for the stretch that comes up. We’ll get work in.”
Angeli has been highly efficient a couple games into his senior season. He’s completed 28 of 31 passes for 555 yards, eight total touchdowns and zero interceptions.
“His confidence level is great right now, and he has an unbelievable grasp of what we do,” Campanile said. “It’s really hard to get to his experience level; he’s a seasoned veteran. It’s come to the point to where our game planning is a collaboration with Steve. He’s really a great student of the game and loves that part of it. He loves the film work, game planning and preparation.
“He knows what he’s seeing out there. He does a really good job in the run game as far as checking plays. Coach [Tommy] Rees will be pretty happy with Steve’s knowledge of the game when gets there.”
Campanile is a longtime, decorated high school football coach in the state of New Jersey. He’s coached collegiately as well at New Hampshire, under then-head coach Chip Kelly, who would go on to jobs at Oregon and UCLA, plus a stop in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. Campanile threw for 6,755 yards and 55 touchdowns during his prep career at Paramus (N.J.) Catholic.
He knows a thing or two about the quarterback position, and Campanile has full trust in Angeli at the position. It says something about Angeli that Campanile has given as 17-year-old “free rein” to make various checks and audibles at the line of scrimmage.
“We’ll basically have a ‘kill’ call in the run game, and he can do any of that stuff,” Campanile explained. “He’s always able to check protection; he’s done a lot of that. He understands how to throw hot. We’re doing a lot of stuff that he’s going to need at the next level. It’s a great asset for him.
“As a sophomore, we weren’t doing all of that stuff with him, but now, he has a lot of free rein. When we’re building a game plan, we collaborate on what we think we’re going to get from the defense. In the red zone, if he gets cover zero, he can check to a rub play that we have prepared.
“If you spend 1,000 hours with a kid, whether it’s watching tape or on the field and all of that stuff, you develop a great level of trust. You really become accustomed to each other and cultivate a great relationship and a high-powered offense. We feel that we’re going a great job with that.”
Committed life treating Angeli well
Angeli made his pledge to the Fighting Irish back in March. He did so without ever meeting any of the Notre Dame staff because of the NCAA’s recruiting dead period due to COVID-19. It was far from a normal recruiting process for Angeli, but he is thrilled with the result.
“It’s special,” Angeli said. “Being able to hold the title [of a Notre Dame commit] carries a lot of weight. ... It comes with a lot of respect, and you have to play like it every [game]. I couldn’t be happier with my decision.”
Angeli thinks the world of Notre Dame quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. They met for the first time during Angeli’s official visit in June, and their relationship has only grown stronger.
“Coach Rees has been great,” Angeli said. “He watched my game [versus Archbishop Hoban]. He was really fired up about my performance. I’m going out for their game against Toledo. He’s really excited to see me.”
Because of the dead period and Notre Dame not allowing the general public into games last year, Angeli hasn’t experienced a game day atmosphere in South Bend yet. He can’t wait to change that.
“You see it on College GameDay and the stories people tell,” Angeli said. “To be there in person — I’m excited to experience it all and feel the atmosphere and energy on game day.”
Vancover (Wash.) Union’s Tobias Merriweather, Ponchatoula (La.) High’s Amorion Walker and Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s CJ Williams are Notre Dame’s three wide receiver commits in the 2022 class. The Irish may end up taking a fourth as well, which would just be icing on the cake to what looks like a great group of pass catchers.
“I’m fired up,” Angeli stated. “Amorion, CJ, Tobias and a couple of guys who might come on in the tail end — seeing them put up numbers with their high school teams, it really gets me excited that those guys are doing well. When we get to Notre Dame, we’ll do something special and get it going. I couldn’t be more excited with the guys we have at the receiver position.”
Angeli isn’t just working on class of 2022 recruits. He’s after Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy wide receiver Carnell Tate, a Chicago native who transferred to the powerhouse program in Florida earlier this year. Angeli played with Tate with the Chicago-based seven-on-seven team Midwest Boom in the offseason.
“We had a great run on Boom. Why not against in college and win a national championship?” Angeli said when asked what his message is to Tate.
The leadership role
Despite landing offers from Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers before the start of his sophomore year of high school, Angeli didn’t start a game that fall. He played in all nine of Bergen’s matchups that season, but he wasn’t “the guy” at the quarterback spot.
Angeli was the following year and led Bergen Catholic to a 5-1 record in 2020 and threw 919 yards and six touchdowns, but it was a shortened season with no playoffs. Now in 2021, Angeli has the keys of the top team in New Jersey per MaxPreps and is ready for a state title run.
He’s the face of the program and the unquestioned leader of the team.
“He’s going to compete, and he plays with his heart,” Bellamy said. “He took a big hit in our game [versus Smyrna], took it like a man and got right back up. He encouraged the team to get the field goal when he came out.”
“He plays the leader role really well,” class of 2023 defensive tackle Sydir Mitchell added. “He gets us ready pregame, and he’ll get our minds right for practice.”
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