Marcus Freeman raves about intelligence of CJ Carr at QB

One week ago, Marcus Freeman made the call Notre Dame fans have been anticipating for months now when he formally named redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr as the Fighting Irish’s QB1 ahead of the 2025 season. Carr beat out fierce competition from redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey, who took the position battle to the brink before Freeman made it official Aug. 19.

This week, as preseason No. 6 Notre Dame readies to hit the road for its season-opener at No. 10 Miami on Sunday, Aug. 31 (7:30 pm ET, ABC), Freeman went into more detail of what ultimately separated Carr in the competition. Specifically, it was Carr’s mental acuity in handling the intangible parts of the position.

“He’s as intelligent of a football player as you’ll be around,” Freeman explained Tuesday during Week 1 media availability. “(Carr) works extremely hard in his preparation. He is a guy that just studies the game endlessly to find a way to improve. And this isn’t saying he’s different than other guys.

“But when talking about CJ Carr, he’s a guy that’s very confident – at some points maybe a little bit overconfident – but you want that in your quarterback,” Freeman continued. “You want the quarterback to say: ‘I want the ball in my every play, when the game is on the line, and I believe I’m going to make the right decision.’ So he has a lot of those intangibles outside of the physical skill set that many people see that you want your quarterback to have.”

Carr, the grandson of former Michigan national champion head coach Lloyd Carr, takes over after redshirting last seasonw while sitting behind Riley Leonard and Steve Angeli on the depth chart. The former four-star product out of Saline, Mich., Carr signed with Notre Dame as the No. 6-ranked quarterback and No. 68 overall prospect in the 2024 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services.

But as Carr prepares to make his first career collegiate start Sunday in Miami, Freeman just wants his young quarterback to keep it simple against the 10th-ranked Hurricanes.

“You want him to make good decisions. Every play can’t be a touchdown. Every play can’t be a bomb. Trust the gameplan, trust what you see, be who you are and win this play,” Freeman added. “I don’t to put a numerical expectation on him. Be the best version of CJ Carr. Make those guys around you better. That’s something he does really well. He raised the play of those guys around him through his words, through his actions, through his competitive spirit. Be that guy. And at the end of the day, just win this play. Not the last one, just win this one right in front of us.”