Kirk Herbstreit: CJ Carr could have a ‘monster year’ as Notre Dame quarterback

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit pegged CJ Carr as his quarterback to watch this season and said the new Notre Dame signal caller could have a “monster year.” Carr beat out Kenny Minchey in a tight offseason battle, but will take the mantle Sunday night against Miami in the season opener.

For a team that has national title expectations, Carr has a lot on his shoulders. Herbstreit was asked about which new starting quarterback he was excited about, among the top tier teams, and he opted for Carr.

The easy pick could’ve been Arch Manning or even Miami’s Carson Beck, whom Carr will face tomorrow. The young QB will have a chance to make an instant impact.

“I’m going out on a limb here, I think the kid in South Bend, Indiana, CJ Carr, and we’ll find out on Sunday night when they play, goes up against Carson Beck, I’m really excited to see what he can do,” Herbstreit said on SportsCenter. “They’ve got a championship caliber team around him. I think we all know what Marcus Freeman has been able to do in South Bend … There’s not a lot of talk about him right now. I’ve seen him grow and develop as a young player, and I just think he could be a guy in that system that could really flourish. Now, don’t get me wrong, Arch Manning would maybe be the obvious pick, but just trying to come up with maybe a different name. I think CJ Carr at Notre Dame has a chance to have a monster year.”

Carr is highly intelligent, so says Freeman. 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.”

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). It could have massive College Football Playoff implications.