Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame Teammates Share Thoughts On CJ Carr

Marcus Freeman and several Notre Dame players share their thoughts on early enrollee quarterback CJ Carr

There was a time when doing what CJ Carr is currently doing at Notre Dame would have been completely unthinkable. The quarterback finished his final classes at Saline (Michigan) High School earlier this month and promptly packed his bags to head south to South Bend to join the Fighting Irish as they prepare for the Sun Bowl.

Enrolling early has been in fashion for several years, but even as Notre Dame has grown warmer to the midseason trend, no player has arrived on campus as early as Carr. His first day with the team was Dec. 15, two full weeks before the Dec. 29 Sun Bowl. His addition to the roster has given him the chance to show his skills to his coaches and teammates alike.

"I watched him throw the ball in practice these last couple days and I mean, he’s got a great arm,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said after seeing Carr practice with the Irish. "His decision making, I mean he processes information and makes decisions at a high level. But he’s a freshman. The one thing you can’t take into consideration when you talk about hard work, you have a goal and you know it’s going to be hard work but you never know how much time it’s going to be (that) has to be put in to reach those goals. So, we’ll see how much time it will take him but I truly believe he has such a high ceiling in terms of where he’ll be as a football player and he’s so competitive. 

"That’s the thing about CJ, he’s smart, he’s talented but he’s competitive and those are things that are hard to measure. He comes to some junior days and those things where he’s around some of his teammates, I mean he’s one of the most competitive guys there is. So, that’s what you want in a quarterback.”

Carr has made an impression on several new teammates as well. Here’s a sampling:

Quarterback Steve Angeli on Carr

"I think being the only guy in his class and the only guy to come in — not as an early enrollee but a super-early enrollee, you could say — and just seeing him get out there and spin the ball with confidence, it's really great to see.

"I think it's awesome. Having him here and getting a head start on learning, he's been a great kid already with the few days I’ve spent with him. He's asked a lot of questions. Just wants to learn, and I think he's a great addition as a quarterback to the room and as a person."

Defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste on Carr

"For a guy that just got here, I think he's going to be good. He's hitting his reads early and everything. By the time he gets that thing in his hands, you have about one or two seconds. He's going to either throw it to the one read or the next. If not, he's gone. I think he's going to be good."

Running back Jeremiyah Love on Carr

"Every so often I’ll look at him and he looks like he’s really calm. I mean like, you would think that most freshmen would come in and you could see that they’re really nervous, but when I look at him he seems like he’s pretty calm and he knows what’s going to happen, what he’s going to do and I think he came in with a mindset that I think he knows he’s not really going to be the starter. But truly I think he came in with a mindset to soak up knowledge from Steve. .... But he seems pretty calm. He seems pretty chill.”

Safety DJ Brown on Carr

"I think it's cool. I just found out on Friday when Coach Freeman told us, but I think it's good for him. He gets to jump ahead of all the early enrollees. He's our scout team quarterback. Every day, he gets better. I can see it. So just seeing that is cool. He's really young, but seeing him get better, even over three practices, has been has been cool to see.”

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