NEW ORLEANS — CJ Carr will have no physical impact on Wednesday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup between No. 7 seed Notre Dame (12-1) and No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2). (UPDATE: The game has been postponed to Thursday.)
But the future of Notre Dame’s quarterback position was the center of attention for many reporters at Monday’s Sugar Bowl media day. That’s because Carr, a former Rivals100 recruit who was ranked as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback in the 2024 class, has been dealing with a somewhat mysterious elbow injury for much of his freshman season.
Not so mysterious to those in the know. But mysterious in the way that Carr’s injury went under the radar, and the program hasn’t provided many details on it. Carr was never added to Notre Dame’s weekly availability report as injured and head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t address it publicly until after reporters spotted Carr not throwing in pregame warmups.
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Freeman was asked on Nov. 4 in the Monday press conference of Florida State week if Carr needed surgery on his elbow.
“No, he doesn't have to get surgery,” Freeman said. “He's still returning to being able to throw. We'll probably see a progression for him to start throwing here soon. We've been overly cautious on his return to play. We don't need to rush it. Let's make sure he is 110% healed.
“If he was the starting quarterback this year, you probably would have pushed him a little bit more aggressively. But we want to be smart with making sure he is 110% healed, really rehabbing his elbow to a point where he's better than probably what he was previously."
Carr didn’t fill in many blanks in front of reporters in New Orleans. Or even the specific injury he suffered.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Carr told Inside ND Sports. “They just kind of told me my arm was hurt.”
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Carr is nearing a full recovery from his elbow issue. He said he’s about six weeks into a six- or seven-week progression in ramping up how much he’s throwing.
“I feel great,” Carr said. “I feel about 95%. I feel really good. I can do anything the coaches ask me to do.”
At one point, Carr wasn’t throwing at all. That’s how much caution was used in taking care of a key figure in next season’s quarterback competition.
“It was a little frustrating at the beginning not being able to throw,” Carr said. “You throw every day in our shoes. It's what you enjoy to do. It's what you love to do. When that's kind of taken away, it's frustrating at first. But it's been good to put together a good plan. We got through it and coming out of that now. It's been good. I'm excited to get back out there full-time."
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Carr played in one game this season: the final four snaps of a 66-7 victory over Purdue. He handed it off three times before taking a knee to end the game. That was when Carr was healthy and rotating on the scout team with sophomore Kenny Minchey. The two were clearly behind backup Steve Angeli and splitting time learning Notre Dame’s offense and giving Notre Dame’s defense a good look at what the opposing team would be trying to do.
“The biggest thing was just recognizing the speed of our defense,” Carr said of his time on scout team. “We have the best defense in the country. Being able to go up against that type of speed and players is something that I think is gonna help me in the long run. I improved on being able to see the field a little bit better, recognize the coverage a little faster. It was a great first few weeks on scout team. Unfortunately, with the injury I wasn’t able to continue, but hopefully we win, and I get back to that.”
While Carr was sidelined and focused on rehabbing his elbow, he made sure to push himself to get better in different ways than he would typically be able to do in practice.
“The big thing is just continuing to prepare like you’re the starter, charting the defense and watching the film,” Carr said. “Then when you’re out there, just taking mental reps every play and trying to still mentally be in the game.”
Watching starting quarterback Riley Leonard come into Notre Dame’s program from Duke, take on a leadership role and expand his game as the season progressed.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned from Riley is he’s just one of the best human beings I’ve ever met,” Carr said. “The way he treats people, the way he treats his teammates is something that I’ll probably take for the rest of my playing career and onward. Just great guy, great leader and blessed to be in the same room with him and have the opportunity to learn from him.”
Though Carr’s freshman year hasn’t exactly been storybook, he’s fully embraced his time in the program he verbally committed to as a recruit in June 2022.
“It's been awesome. … It's been the best experience of my life,” Carr said. “Notre Dame has helped me in every way: in my personal life and my football career. I'm blessed to be a part of this program."
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