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'He's going to be a first-round pick': Notre Dame QB CJ Carr gaining national buzz

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer7 hours agoMikeTSinger
Notre Dame QB CJ Carr
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr dropped back to pass 14 times against Purdue and completed 10 of his 12 throws. (Mike Miller, Blue & Gold)

CJ Carr has impressed the Fighting Irish faithful through his first four games of the 2025 season, and the rest of the country has finally caught on following Notre Dame’s demolition of Arkansas.

The redshirt freshman quarterback was incredible against Arkansas last Saturday, connecting on 22 of 30 attempts for 354 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-13 triumph for the Irish. Carr’s 294 passing yards in the first half were the third-most in program history before halftime, and the most since 2008.

He racked up national awards, earning Manning Award Quarterback of the Week, Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Week, and a spot on the Davey O’Brien Great 8.

He has also been added to the Davey O’Brien Award’s Midseason Watch List, which honors the nation’s top college quarterback.

Carr leads all freshmen nationally in yards per attempt (10.49 – fifth among all FBS players), yards per completion (15.37 – sixth among all FBS players), passing efficiency (181.1 – 10th among all FBS players), and passing yards per game (272.8 – 20th among all FBS players). 

Carr dominated social media chatter after his performance against the Razorbacks, drawing praise from ESPN writer Dan Wetzel.

“I am not an NFL Draft expert, and this is just his fourth game, but based on his accuracy, touch, athleticism and reading of defenses, it would not surprise me if Notre Dame’s CJ Carr was the first overall pick in 2027,” Wetzel wrote on Twitter.

Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson echoed Wetzel’s sentiment in his press conference earlier this week.

“CJ, their quarterback, man, he’s going to be a future first-round draft pick,” Danielson said. “I don’t think I’m the first one that will say that. He has that type of potential and he has that type of leadership, accuracy. That’s who he is as a quarterback. So offensively, they’re loaded.”

ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky responded to Danielson’s comments on Twitter with the simple statement of, “Correct.”

Each week, On3 releases a Heisman poll. While Carr wasn’t included, former Penn State offensive lineman and college football pundit Landon Tengwall responded: “I demand that Notre Dame QB CJ Carr be added to this list.”

On The Independent Podcast with Pete Sampson and Matt Fortuna, former Notre Dame quarterback and Irish legend Brady Quinn opined that if Carr started as a true freshman last year, then ND would have been “in the same spot.”

“As good as Riley Leonard was running the football, he’s not as good as Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price … And it’s no secret the passing struggled last year. It’s a strength now. People have to worry about Malachi Fields and Jordan Faison and the rest. We have legitimate threats we can utilize because we have a guy who has that sort of talent as a passer inside the pocket and outside the pocket when he extends plays.”

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt called Carr one of the three best signal-callers in America, alongside Oregon’s Dante Moore and Alabama’s Ty Simpson.

Next up for Carr and the Fighting Irish is the Boise State Broncos on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.