Mike Denbrock had an intuition that CJ Carr could be a great college quarterback.
The offensive coordinator just wanted to wait until the bullets really started to fly to make sure.
“Listen, you go into the first game, and you suspect things,” Denbrock said. “But what real evidence do you have? You don't know until the fire is, the bullets are flying — and that's a horrible metaphor to use. But what I'm saying is, you think he's unflappable, you believe he's unflappable. He's shown you that he's trustworthy, but he's got to live in that environment before you really truly know.”
Through three games Carr has lived up to the expectations many set for him — and then some. The redshirt freshman has thrown for over 700 yards and five touchdowns, with his most efficient game coming last Saturday against Purdue.
“What he's done, through the way he's kind of played the game and run the offense, has proven us right, that he's willing and ready to kind of take on as much as we're willing to give him,” Denbrock said.
While Denbrock won’t take any of the credit for Carr’s immediate success, he does believe his conversations with Carr have provided many positives in their relationship on and off the field.
“I don't know if it's played into his growth,” Denbrock said. “I think he's just a really gifted young man who studies the game, but it just gives him and I an opportunity when we get together to kind of talk through the game plan.
“So, it gives him and I kind of an opportunity to kind of just talk about, ‘Hey, what do you really like? What are you uncomfortable with? What hits your brain the right way? What's a little cloudy? What can I clean up for you? These are the run checks. Let's make sure we're on top of this. These are the things we need to make sure — on third down, in the red zone.’
Even though Carr looks like a veteran signal caller on the field, Denbrock isn’t letting him off the leash completely — even if Carr believes he’s ready.
“I'm still trying to coax him and make sure that he's got every little piece of information,” Denbrock said. “He's like, ‘Dude.’ Like my son would go, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ So, it's awesome. And the more control he can take, and that will continue to grow, will continue to evolve.
“And I don't know that he's ever going to get all the keys to the Ferrari, but, I mean, we'll let him take it out for a spin every once in a while. He's done a nice job with it.”
Despite the strong start for Carr, Denbrock also recognizes that there is room for growth. The quarterback has two interceptions on the year, both coming at costly times for the Irish.
“I won't get into really what was said to him after the one the week before, because that was something I wasn't really proud of,” Denbrock said. “But I just still think there's still growth possible with him making the decision that he needs to make when he's out of the pocket, like he did when he tucked it and got five yards and got down and didn't get smashed, right? That's a pretty good decision.
“Or, once in a while, it's just a bad play call, and you might have to whip the thing out of bounds. We'll live to fight another day. We had a lot of plays Saturday where we made over 10 yards.”
Although Denbrock has a quarterback that looks like he can make any throw asked of him, the offensive coordinator maintained that the Irish offense will continue to be a run first operation.
It also helps that Notre Dame has one of the best backfields in the nation, led by Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.
“That needs to be our No. 1 identity,” Denbrock said. “I believe we can throw the ball over people's heads. I believe we're really good in the intermediate passing game as well, and I think at some point you're going to need a little bit of all of it depending on who you're playing and what you're playing against from a scheme standpoint. So, I think some of that is scheme-dictated by who you're playing that particular week.”
Now that Denbrock knows how Carr will perform in a live environment, combined with a deadly running back duo, it should make the Irish offense one of the better units in the country.
