Notre Dame QB CJ Carr's Competitive Drive & Work Ethic Second to None
Notre Dame freshman quarterback CJ Carr has always been about his business.
It didn’t take long to see the Michigan native was a talented prospect coming out of Saline High School, but Carr’s maturity has repeatedly separated him from his peers.
Carr arrived at Notre Dame in January and it didn’t take long for him to show his drive to succeed. It’s almost a given that Carr is doing something to improve his game, whether he wants the coaching staff to know it or not.
Where does that come from?
It starts with the long family history in the game of football, but a lot of it is simply how Carr is wired as he wants to be great.
“I think my dad definitely instilled that in me from a young age - and my mom,” Carr stated. “What you want, you have to work for. Coming here, being around the guys and understanding everyone is great here, you can’t just do what everyone else does. You have to do a little bit more and that’s the only way you’ll get on the field.
“I’m just trying to take that into every day.”
Part of Carr’s maturity is taking it day by day. Would he love to be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame in 2024? Sure.
That’s not the current situation and Carr is making sure he soaks up the knowledge from Riley Leonard and Steve Angeli while also competing and pushing them each time the Irish hit the field or meeting room.
“It’s more about taking as much from them as you can,” said Carr. “Then you have to be yourself each day. Do what you didn’t do yesterday. Work harder than you did yesterday. The rest will kind of take care of itself.”
Leonard has seen his fair share of young quarterbacks over his first three seasons in college football, including playing in seven games as a true freshman himself. But he doesn’t see any similarities when he compares himself to Carr at the same age.
“He’s like way, way, way above where I was as a freshman,” Leonard stated. “Honestly, night and day. We don’t have any similarities.”
Carr picks Leonard’s brain time to time, but the senior quarterback admitted his understudy doesn’t need too much help. Leonard invited Carr to train with him in Alabama and quickly saw the freshman has a different mindset.
“He’s just so eager to develop himself as a quarterback and he just loves football,” explained Leonard. “Obviously, he has a family that’s been around football his whole life, but he just loves football.
“A lot of freshmen half the time are here just coasting, trying to figure out. At a new school, let me go to this, go here. He really just wants to watch film and hang out with us. There are no similarities.”
One common move for both players is writing notes on their hands for practice. The notes serve as reminders of the day's focus or simply motivation.
“This says pressure is an illusion,” Carr stated. “Just kind of reminds me, not to put too much pressure on myself, to go out here to win every second, every play. Riley and I, and a few of the other QBs like to just write little reminders on our hands just to think about them during practice.”
If you want to get excited about Carr’s future, it starts with that love for the game, which likely comes from being around the Michigan program all his life.
And yes, many football players love the game, but it’s very easy to tell Carr has a passion for football and it’s why he’s embraced the details young players often struggle to grasp.
“It’s really fun,” said Carr. “In high school, I feel it was more go up, run the play and make it work. Here, you’re scheming to do this; there are checks here, and you can make this call. It’s almost like chess. You’re trying to scheme your way out of situations.
“That’s what’s fun for me. High school was great. I loved all my coaches. We had a really good offense, but this is more thinking, doing and there are more learning curves, but I’m enjoying it so far.”
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