CJ Carr will be Notre Dame’s starting quarterback when the No. 6 Irish open the season at No. 10 Miami on Aug. 31.
Notre Dame, last season’s College Football Playoff runner-up, made the announcement Tuesday morning via its football social media pages on X and Instagram. Carr replaces Riley Leonard, who was a sixth-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the spring.
Carr, in his second year with the Irish, hasn’t yet thrown a pass in a collegiate game. The four-star recruit out of Saline, Mich., is the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.
He was in competition during fall camp with Kenny Minchey, a third-year Notre Dame player who completed 3 of 3 passes for 16 yards and rushed for 12 yards and a touchdown in four games. The pair split reps with the first team throughout camp.
“Their strengths are very similar,” Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli told reporters at the beginning of camp. “Both guys are really good in terms of their routine and their preparation. Both have really high football IQs. It means a lot to both of them. Both have a lot of arm talent.
“CJ is probably a little bit more vocal than Kenny is. Kenny is probably a little more athletic than CJ is. But all in all, we’ve got two really good quarterbacks that are competing their butts off.”
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said earlier this week that they saw positives from both quarterbacks during camp, with Denbrock declaring them “both good enough to help us win football games.”
Freeman said he thought both QBs worked hard, were coachable and were able to move on quickly from mistakes.
He wasn’t ready to name a starter Sunday morning when he met with reporters, but had laid out the criteria for the winner, including demonstrating consistency and sound decision-making.
“I don’t want to just sit here and watch the outcome, good or bad, and blame the quarterback,” Freeman said. “It’s like, ‘What decision was he supposed to make? Did he make the right decision?’ Then you look and say, ‘OK, was the ball good? Was the protection right?’ All those different things that are on his plate. But that is more important to me than anything, the decision-making.”
After winning the competition, Carr faces a big challenge in getting ready for the road opener against a ranked opponent. The Irish then host No. 19 Texas A&M in their second game on Sept. 13.
Denbrock offered a word of caution to those observing.
“I hope everybody knows that no matter who we name the quarterback, it’s no easy task going down to Miami and playing in a season opener,” Denbrock said. “No matter who the starter is, there will be a learning curve involved in all of this. But we’re confident we’ve got two guys who can compete at a very high level and do a really, really good job.”
