Teddy Jarrard couldn't do anything about the head start Blake Hebert and Noah Grubbs had on him, but he did have a choice when it came to what he was going to do about it.
The freshman quarterback was originally supposed to join the Irish as a 2027 recruit before reclassifying to the Class of 2026. After arriving at Notre Dame in June, Jarrard attacked the playbook hard enough to impress offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and put himself squarely into the competition for the backup job behind CJ Carr.
Hebert already had a full season in the program under his belt, while Grubbs arrived as an early enrollee in January and went through spring practice with the Irish.
Jarrard was supposed to still be preparing for his senior year of high school before the decision was made to get him to South Bend earlier than originally expected. Even with the accelerated timetable, he remained an entire spring behind one quarterback and an entire season behind the other one he'd be competing against.
Denbrock made it clear what Jarrard needed to do if he wanted to close that gap.
"‘You got here in June. You're a whole spring behind the two guys you're competing with,’" Denbrock recalled telling Jarrard. "‘You've got to make a decision from a knowledge standpoint how hard you're willing to dig into this to give yourself as good an opportunity as you can when fall ball starts.’"
Jarrard apparently made the right decision.
"He obviously has done a really nice job with that and put himself in a position where he can play faster and process," Denbrock said.
Notre Dame isn't ready to declare a leader in that competition as Denbrock, head coach Marcus Freeman and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli have gone to considerable lengths to ensure all three quarterbacks receive a legitimate opportunity.
"Those guys have been great all summer," Denbrock said. "Obviously, Coach Freeman, Coach Guidugli and myself have been really mindful about how we divide reps, the scheme that we're giving them, how we're giving it to them, what we're asking those guys to do. Trying to make it as uniform across the board with those three guys as we can. To try to assess realistically where they're going to be and where they are and where we think they can go."
That process begins well before practice.
Freeman, Guidugli and Denbrock carefully map out which opportunities each quarterback will receive and which groups they'll work with so their evaluations aren't overly influenced by circumstances.
"There's a very in-depth communication on the coaching staff's part before we ever get to the practice field," Denbrock said. "And then trying to be really specific with how we're splitting up the reps, why we're splitting them up this way. Rotating this guy with this group. Putting this guy with this group. And giving those guys what we feel is a fair opportunity."
Jarrard's ability to put himself in that position so quickly hasn't necessarily surprised Denbrock.
In some ways, the offensive coordinator sees traits in Jarrard that remind him of Carr when the Irish were recruiting their current starter.
"I don't know if I was surprised by it, because he has a lot of the same characteristics that we saw when we recruited CJ and knew of CJ," Denbrock said. "He's a studier of the game. He's a baller. He loves it."
But Carr's current responsibilities within the offense also illustrate how far all three backup candidates still have to go.
After a full season as the starter, Carr has earned the freedom to make decisions at the line of scrimmage and occasionally deviate from exactly what Denbrock gives him. Hebert, Grubbs and Jarrard aren't being asked to operate with that same level of autonomy.
"The communication in the headset between me and CJ, and me and the guys that are competing for the backup job is completely different," Denbrock said. "CJ may have the ability because he's earned it to maybe go a little more off-script than they do. And I'm going to want them to kind of stick to the check that I give them, if that makes sense. So, I may give them an out if I think the defense is going to be in something that compromises what we're doing.
"And it'll be specific to those guys, so they know what I want them to get to. With CJ, I'll do that at times. And then at other times I'll kind of say, ‘Hey, listen, if you see something and you feel like it's a good matchup, let's go. Let's be aggressive with what we're doing.’ And then he kind of takes it from there and moves with it."
For the three quarterbacks competing for the #2 role, the immediate challenge is demonstrating they can consistently handle what the coaching staff is asking of them.
Jarrard received significant 7-on-7 work during the practice open to reporters, but Denbrock cautioned against interpreting the distribution of those reps as an indication of where the competition stands.
"No, it's just those guys will rotate between those two different things every day pretty much," he said.
Jarrard may have started the competition from behind, but Denbrock believes the work he's done since June has at least given him the opportunity he was looking for.
"I love any football player who is willing to dig deep into the process and learn the game and put himself in a position to help the football team win. And Teddy's one of those guys."
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