CJ Carr Blocking Out the Noise, Embracing Notre Dame Quarterback Battle

A quarterback competition is a high-pressure situation.

At Notre Dame, it’s downright intense.

Every throw, every word, every movement is dissected and discussed. A great play can spark hype, while one mistake can trigger panic from a hungry fanbase. 

That’s the reality facing sophomore quarterback CJ Carr, who is competing with Kenny Minchey for the starting job and he’s doing his best to stay grounded. 

How is Carr staying focused? Well, he’s keeping his focus simple. 

“It’s every day trying to focus on you vs. you,” stated Carr. “It’s not me vs. Kenny or Kenny vs. me. I’m just trying to get better every day. I’m not focused on things you can’t control.” 

That mindset is easier said than done for most players. But for Carr, one of the biggest steps in tuning out distractions was surprisingly easy.

“Not hard,” Carr said with a smile. “You just delete Social Media and don’t look at it.” 

Whether he wins the starting job or not, Carr understands the importance of leadership. It’s a role that demands presence, consistency, and the respect of teammates. 

Both Carr and Minchey were able to learn from quarterback Riley Leonard last season. Leonard provided a model of how to lead and endure the ups and downs of being the face of the program.

“I think it's been good for both Kenny and I to get in and lead and make the offense our own,” explained Carr. “We're not the same player Riley was, for good and for bad. We have to continue to take what he gave us with leadership and how to play the game, and then also build upon what he brought as the foundation.” 

Another former Notre Dame quarterback, Ian Book, has also shaped Carr’s development.

Both quarterbacks train in Jacksonville with Will Hewlett in the offseason and Book recently made the move to South Bend as he started a career outside of football, which means the two have connected a ton with Notre Dame’s all-time winningest quarterback around the football building. 

“Ian's been great,” Carr stated. “He's been in here. I listened to a podcast with him a few weeks ago and he said Free (Marcus Freeman) told him to just come in here and try and mentor us the best he can, which is exactly what he did. He came in and he threw with us every once in a while. He's in there lifting, getting his work in.

“He was also available for us to ask questions about the Eagles offense, Kansas City, how Patrick Mahomes does his stuff. It was a really cool insight. And just the different stops he's made along his journey and being able to learn from his experiences while he was at Notre Dame.”

If that wasn’t enough, Book and Leonard, along with the entire Notre Dame quarterback room, made their way to Chicago in June for the QBs for a Cause event. The night centered around raising awareness and funds for the foundation that the Carr family started, Chad Tough, and Buy A Brick Foundation, which was started by Leonard’s grandfather. 

It was a statement about the health of the QB room that every Irish quarterback showed up, but also about the pride of being a quarterback at Notre Dame, and Carr felt that support. 

“That was awesome,” stated Carr. “I hadn’t heard much about Riley’s foundation. It was great to get out to Chicago and help not only my family’s foundation, but also Riley’s foundation and spread awareness for both of them. It was great to see Ian out there, who has been through this and gone through the ups and downs of being a Notre Dame quarterback. Everyone clicking together and telling stories was awesome.”  

On the field, Carr now has to focus on winning the job and resiliency is part of coming out on top. Quarterbacks are going to throw interceptions, miss receivers and make incorrect reads. The key to success is bouncing back and moving to the next play, which Carr experienced during Notre Dame’s first practice. 

The Michigan native threw three picks in team periods but then connected with Micah Gilbert on a deep ball that was probably a 65-yard (ish) touchdown. 

“I think it's easy to look at the three picks as, ‘OK, we threw five picks as a quarterback group and it wasn't a great day.’ 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 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.

“Coming out of day one, 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. 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.” 

Notre Dame's ability to hit the deep ball will be key to winning a National Title. The Irish proved they can muck it up with anyone in the country in a dog fight, but explosive plays win rings in today’s game. 

The Irish have pieces on the perimeter in Malachi Fields, Will Pauling, Jordan Faison and company, who can stretch the field and it’s led to the offense having a new feel. 

“I think explosively, we have some threats on the outside, threats on the inside that have continued to progress along,” said Carr. “I think that feels a little different, but offensively it seems similar.” 

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock made it clear earlier this summer that the offense was much further ahead of last year, as it was year two in the same scheme. 

Carr believes that could be an x-factor for the Irish offense as a whole. 

I think we are much further along in our offensive scheme than we were on day one of fall camp last year,” Carr said. “I think that's because of the spring, second year in the offense obviously, but the spring was a big period for us and then this summer we got to come out here every other day and just work with the players, no coaches, no yelling in the back of your ears, the receivers could play free and we could just test some things out.

“Maybe it caused some bad habits with all the turnovers that we've had here, but I think overall we got a lot better. Our chemistry is on point. We're really excited to continue to keep working through the fall.”

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