It had been, approximately, four months since CJ Carr had first donned a Notre Dame helmet and participated in a Fighting Irish football practice.
Mid-December, Notre Dame preparing for its impending appearance in the Sun Bowl and Carr, grandson of 1997 national title-winning Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr, forgoing standard high school senior activities in order to jump-start his Fighting Irish career.
Saturday, inside Notre Dame Stadium, the only Irish quarterback not to turn over the ball? The 6-foot-3, 206-pounder with less than 100 days of collegiate classes under his belt.
On a roster with Riley Leonard, the tantalizing Duke-transfer quarterback, as well as Steve Angeli and former Pitt commitment and four-star prospect Kenny Minchey, Carr is emerging as Notre Dame’s quarterback of the future.
“CJ has been great,” Marcus Freeman said, a week before his team concludes its 2024 spring camp with the program’s annual Blue & Gold Game and as Notre Dame moves ever-closer to expanding its football facilities. “Coming in the winter, mature. Really understands offensive concepts with defensive football. Smart guy.
“Makes great decisions, and so I've been really impressed with him at quarterback.”
In a scrimmage with stakes to determine whether offense or defense wears the traditional home, blue jersey in next week’s spring finale, it’s noteworthy that only Carr exits without an interception.
Moreover, in the defense’s “50-32 win” to earn those blue threads, Angeli and Minchey head to film study to see the root causes of their respective pick-sixes; Angeli also needs to examine his last-snap pick by emerging safety Adon Shuler.
Meanwhile, Carr – despite no work with the Irish’s de facto starting offensive line and top wideouts – enters the final week of his inaugural spring camp having not turned over the ball.
— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) April 13, 2024
Of course, long before Saturday’s approximately 80-play session inside Notre Dame Stadium, Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli knows the signs of Carr’s increasingly rapid ascension.
“I think, as a true freshman, you’d never look out there and think ‘Okay, this guy just got here four months ago,’” Guidugli said earlier this week. “He can really throw the ball. I think he has a chance to be a really special player.
“Mechanically, it looks the ball comes out of his hand really nice. I had to warm up with him a little bit because Riley was out. You go in there and he’s one of those guys in warm-ups where it’s like … buckle up. He’s going to be shooting at you pretty good.”
Though Carr’s sublime Saturday – a pinpoint scoring toss to fellow rookie and former five-star prospect Cam Williams, as well as his own scoring jaunt to cap an impressive drive – doesn’t include work against a Notre Dame defense touting itself among the nation’s best under third-year defensive guru Al Golden, Carr also doesn’t own those stats from working with the Irish starters.
Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are likely future NFL running backs; no segment of the Irish offensive line is fully settled, but the gulf between the first- and third-team units makes the English Channel seem like a crosswalk; Williams boasts oodles of potential but is a likely redshirt.
Yet, Carr is turning heads and making plays regardless of those around him. He’s rolling left when flushed from the pocket, urging a receiver to return downfield along the sideline and firing a 30-yard completion.
He’s stepping up in the pocket, avoiding a potential “sack” and firing to walk-on wideout Jack Polian.
All told, he’s heading into this closing week after throwing for approximately 100 yards, leading two of the offense’s three touchdown strikes and, most importantly, committing zero catastrophic plays.
It’s what Freeman continues to see every day from Carr.
“I don’t think it was one specific day, but you saw the way he came in during bowl practices as a high school senior and just soaked it all in,” said Freeman, who saw his defense win the jersey scrimmage for the first time in his three years as head coach but not through any fault of Carr. “And, I guess, you’ve got to give credit to his high school [coaches] in his development. Pretty knowledgeable about this game of football, but he came in, didn’t say much. He just soaked it in. He was a sponge, and now, as you see him through spring, he's progressing and getting better. And every time I walk by [QBs] coach [Gino] Guidugli’s office, he's in there. And that's how you improve.
“Can you retain the information that your coaches are trying to give you, so that you go out and do it when it matters the most? For different people, to retain that information, it takes different things. But that's what you see out of CJ Carr and a lot of these young guys. They're wanting to learn it. Like, how do I figure this thing out and process it? So, now when it's out there in the stadium, I can go out there and perform. And so, he's really done a good job.”
So much so, in fact, that Carr is looking more and more like Notre Dame’s quarterback of the future. Preparing for a fifth different starting quarterback in as many seasons, Notre Dame no doubt welcomes the development.