Notre Dame announced freshman CJ Carr won its starting quarterback competition on Tuesday afternoon, and head coach Marcus Freeman revealed the youngster’s decision-making ability played a key role.
Carr was a consensus four-star recruit, and named an All-American following his senior season. The Notre Dame freshman was a top 50 overall prospect, top five quarterback in the country, and top-rated player in Michigan, according to ESPN, Rivals and 247 Sports.
Now, the freshman is tasked with leading a Fighting Irish team with national championship aspirations.
What to Expect From CJ Carr
Carr may be Notre Dame’s starting quarterback, but Freeman and his coaching staff made a point that they don’t want the entire offense leaning on the freshman.
“Our quarterback hasn’t started a college football game. And we’ve got a lot of guys that are surrounding him that have,” Notre Dame’s quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli said. “And I think early in the season we gotta lean on those guys and not put all the pressure on the quarterback. I think we got plenty of talent around them. We got a great offensive line. We got a great backfield. Just not making every snap life or death on a quarterback decision.”
The Fighting Irish have one of the best offensive lines in the country, return running back Jeremiah Love and receivers Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse, and brought in veteran transfer receivers Malachi Fields and Will Pauling.
Carr will have plenty of weapons around him, and his job will be to make the right decisions to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers. Freeman is more worried about Carr’s decision-making ability than his ability to be the star on the field.
“Like I don’t want to just sit here and watch the outcome, good or bad, and say, ‘Blame the quarterback,'” Freeman said on Sunday. “It’s like, ‘What decision was he supposed to make and did he make the right decision?’ Then you look and say, ‘OK, was the ball good? Was the protection right?’ All those different things that are on his plate.
New Notre Dame starting quarterback CJ Carr is a gifted thrower. Above all, though?
He’s a teammate first and foremost.
“It’s really the line and the receivers who are out there making all the plays. So, just giving the credit to those guys.”
— BlueandGold.com (@BGInews) August 19, 2025
“That is more important to me than anything. It’s about decision making. Because there’s so many different aspects that go into the outcome of a play. We give the quarterback credit when things are good, we’ll blame him if things are bad. But the one thing they control is their decision making and the ability to get everybody on the same page.”
Carr’s decision making improved throughout practices, and he eventually showed his head coach enough to earn his trust. But it didn’t start on a high note. The freshman quarterback threw three interceptions in practice No. 1 of fall camp.
However, Carr’s confidence didn’t waver, and he shared the same sentiment of his head coach, focusing on the decisions rather than the outcomes.
“I think that’s what fall camp is for, is to come out here and push the ball down the field, see if you can fit a ball into a tight window, see if you can make the throws, see which guys can come up for you big time and make a big play on the outside, which DBs you can attack,” Carr said after Notre Dame’s second practice. “And so, coming out of Day 1, I thought that although we had a bunch of turnovers and didn’t protect the ball and we need to continue to get better at that, I thought it was a really good day explosively.
ESPN’s @GregMcElroy is a believer in Notre Dame starter CJ Carr.
“You have a quarterback who can quite literally take the game over with his arm. He is really, really talented.”
“This is a great sign for what could come for an improved passing offense.”https://t.co/USWpqROu3i pic.twitter.com/VRqaBusEyu
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) August 20, 2025
“We pushed the ball on the field. Guys were getting open. From the outside looking in, it’s a different narrative than I think we feel.”
The Fighting Irish’s freshman quarterback is talented and confident heading into 2025, but the offense won’t be solely on his shoulders. Freeman simply wants him to read the play and make the right decisions to get his playmakers the ball.
Notre Dame opens its season on August 31 with a Top 10 matchup against Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
