CJ Carr shares his biggest takeaways from being around Sam Hartman, Riley Leonard

CJ Carr is firmly in the race for Notre Dame‘s starting quarterback role this fall. On Friday, Carr revealed what he learned from the Fighting Irish’s last two QB1’s.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned from Sam [Hartman] and Riley [Leonard], especially — I was around him a lot more than I was Sam — is just the way he carries himself, the way he leads, the way he treats his teammates is second to none,” Carr said. “I haven’t been around too many people that are just that invested in the team. And so, I kind of hope to continue to take that to this next season.”

Carr didn’t have many opportunities last season to show off his leadership. He only made one appearance for the Fighting Irish, and didn’t record a single pass attempt.

Nonetheless, Carr paid close attention to the example Riley Leonard was setting, knowing he’d have a chance to lead the Fighting Irish’s offense one day. Now, that day is here and there’s one person standing in Carr’s way.

Redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey is Carr’s sole competition for the starting spot behind center this fall, after Steve Angeli transferred out of the program. While Minchey boasts one more year of experience than Carr, he also has seen very little in-game action.

Minchey and Carr were both four-star prospects coming out of high school. Alas, Carr believes his growth since coming to Notre Dame has prepared him to be the team’s offensive leader.

“One of my strengths is just understanding where to go with the ball and what the defense is doing,” Carr said. “I think I’ve grown a lot with that since my first year here.

“Another strength is just the relationships I have with my teammates. I think those are the guys that, you know, the quarterbacks and the coaches get all the glory, but it’s really the line and the receivers who are out there making all the plays. So, just giving the credit to those guys.”

While CJ Carr would undoubtedly like to be Notre Dame’s QB1, a dual-quarterback system isn’t out of the question. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman weighed in on the possibility.

“You’re going to look for any way to help your team win. If that means you use two quarterbacks for certain situations, then you’re going to find a way to use two quarterbacks,” Freeman said. “There might be two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. Who knows? Creativity is so important, and we have some creative football coaches and players here that we’ll come up with the right plan.”