High school football programs across the state of Florida had their preseason kickoff classic games this past Friday, including Vero Beach (Fla.) High, the home of Notre Dame quarterback commit Champ Monds.

While it doesn’t count toward either team’s official record because it was a preseason game, Monds played three full quarters and led Vero Beach to a 28-7 triumph over West Palm Beach (Fla.) Cardinal Newman.

It was an impressive showing for Monds’ squad, which ranks No. 18 in the Florida 2026 High School Football Massey Rankings. Newman came into the game ranked No. 14. The Massey Ratings predicted VB to win 27-26, but it was a much more comfortable victory in reality.

Monds completed 13 of 25 passes for 210 yards with 1 passing touchdown. In the clips below, Monds scores a rushing touchdown, but it was called back due to a penalty. The four-star passer threw a touchdown pass on the ensuing play and led the Fighting Indians on each of their four touchdown drives.

See his game highlights in the tweet below.

The 6-2.5, 219-pounder looks to be back to his best after an injury-riddled 2025 season. Monds is running confidently and throwing the ball well. The Irish pledge is set for a big senior season.

Originally, his 2025 campaign was his sophomore season, but since he reclassified to the 2027 cycle in the winter, his 2026 season now marks his senior year. He will graduate in December and enroll at Notre Dame in January.

Monds is Rivals’ No. 215 overall player and No. 17 quarterback in America. After his freshman season, he was the No. 2 overall prospect and top signal-caller nationally as part of the 2028 class. But after a sophomore season in which he only played in a few games and a reclassification, Monds’ ranking isn’t as high as it once was.

“He’s one of the more challenging evaluations in my time doing this,” Rivals director of scouting and rankings Charles Power told Blue & Gold. “There’s a very wide range of what his final ranking will be given the lack of recent on-field context in his evaluation.”

Monds was outstanding as a freshman in 2024. He threw for 2,234 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing 181 of 268 passes with five interceptions. He ran 142 times for 502 yards with 9 rushing scores as a sophomore and was named the TCPalm Offensive Player of the Year.

But he only threw 63 passes last season and heads into his now-senior season with 17 games under his belt.

“We love Champ Monds’ physical tools,” Power said. “He ran an electronically timed 4.7 40-yard dash as a freshman and has huge hands. The flashes he showed as a dual-threat quarterback were really encouraging.

“We’ve been in a holding pattern over the course of the past year. He wasn’t on the camp circuit, so we didn’t get an updated look at him coming off the truncated 2025 season.”

Read more from Power on Monds here.