SOUTH BEND, Ind. — CJ Carr arrived for his post-practice interview session wearing his new jersey number, 13, and with a message written on the back of his left hand: Keep football simple.
The sophomore-to-be is the most buzzworthy member of a three-headed quarterback competition at Notre Dame that’s two spring football practices into a battle that likely won’t be decided until August. After being sidelined for much of his freshman season with a throwing elbow injury in his right arm, Carr is writing specific messages to himself before every practice to stay focused on the daily tasks.
“Football’s not an easy sport, and people think simple and easy are kind of the same thing,” Carr said Friday after practice. “But sometimes, early in my first year, it got to the point where you walk in day one and you got a really complex defense, really complex offense, and it's a lot. You're thinking a lot.
“At this point, today I felt really good. It's just like, what's my read? Is it man? Is it zone? And then can I make the throw? Which I think I can make any throw I'm asked to.”
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The handwritten messages — “Run the offense” was on his hand Wednesday — were inspired by former Irish quarterback Riley Leonard, who helped Notre Dame reach the national championship game in the first 12-team College Football Playoff. But Carr switching from No. 12 to No. 13 on his jersey this year isn’t an homage to Leonard.
Carr only ended up with No. 12 because Leonard joined Notre Dame after a transfer from Duke last year. He previously wore No. 13 growing up and throughout his time at Saline (Mich.) High, because that’s the number his father, Jason Carr, wore during his football career.
“Out of high school, I was pumped because no one had 13 on the offense,” CJ Carr said. “I was like, ‘Let's go. This is my chance.’ And then you get a national championship quarterback coming in. It's like, shoot.
“It feels really good. Twelve was great. I just felt a little uncomfortable. Right now, I feel like I'm back at home.”
Now CJ Carr can clearly focus on the number of reps he’s receiving this spring. Head coach Marcus Freeman, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli are making a concerted effort to evenly split the reps among Carr, senior-to-be Steve Angeli and junior-to-be Kenny Minchey this spring. Guidugli shared Friday that the staff is tracking reps for each one of them to keep the opportunities similar. The only differences may come in scrimmage settings when a quarterback is leading a long drive, and another QB gets stuck with a short, unsuccessful drive.
“What we've been told is they're going to try and keep it as even as possible for us to go with the ones, with the twos and with the threes,” Carr said. “That's how they're going to evaluate it. Honestly, that's not something I worry about. If I'm with the ones, then I gotta be elite. If I'm with the threes, I gotta be elite.”
Carr came to Notre Dame with the recruiting industry expecting him to be elite. Rivals ranked him as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback and No. 50 overall in the 2024 class. That’s significantly higher than Angeli, who was rated as a three-star recruit, and Minchey, who was ranked as the No. 12 pro-style quarterback and No. 209 overall in the 2023 class.
When Guidugli described Carr’s strengths as having “great arm talent” and being a “natural leader,” those are the kind of traits that have led to such high expectations for Carr. But he still has a lot to learn a little more than one year into his college career.
Guidugli said he’s seen Carr’s growth in having a command of the offense since last spring.
“Just full understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish on offense, run game and pass game,” Guidugli said. “He’s done a good job of jumping into that, and then to build on that, once you kind of master the offense, you’re not thinking about that anymore. Your ability to process the defense pre-snap, I think he’s came a long way there.”
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Carr’s physical development became even more noteworthy when he wasn’t throwing for a portion of last season due to his elbow injury. ND head football athletic trainer Rob Hunt described Carr’s rehabilitation from the injury, which didn’t require surgery, as one that was outlined in a 10-12 week plan. Because Notre Dame’s season lasted until the 34-23 loss to Ohio State on Jan. 20, that gave Carr time to get back into throwing with the team before the season ended.
Carr has emerged as someone who believes he’s never thrown the ball farther or with more power than he’s capable of doing currently. After dialing in on eating and workout habits with associate director of sports nutrition Alexa Appelman and director of football performance Loren Landow, the 6-foot-3, 209-pound Carr said he feels fast, quick and can do anything the offense asks of him athletically.
“Sometimes you worry, because he’s such a competitor that if there was something that was ailing, he’s not gonna necessarily tell you,” Guidugli said. “But when you see the ball come out of his hand, it’s flying out of there. His feet look really sound. He’s looking better in our zone-read stuff, pulling the ball and running or taking off and scrambling, so I’m really happy with where he’s at.”
Notre Dame hasn’t had a quarterback competition that’s felt as open as this since Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne were fighting for the starting job prior to the 2022 season, Freeman’s first as a head coach. Buchner was named the starter in mid-August.
There’s no telling when this competition will end. But what Carr went through last season with his elbow injury helped prepare him for what’s ahead.
“It gave me time to just kind of get stronger all around, improve my health, improve my eating, improve my sleep, improve my study habits,” Carr said. “You can't focus on the bad. You can either dwell on it and not get better, or you can try and do what you can.”
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