CJ Carr has moved from being Notre Dame's quarterback to being the voice teammates follow, and Marcus Freeman said that shift is showing up every day in Fall Camp. Freeman said the rest of the offense listens when Carr speaks, a sign that the second-season starter has taken on more than just the job of running plays.
That matters now because Carr is coming off a 2025 season that put his name in the conversation for major awards and future draft talk. He completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdown passes, and those 24 scores were tied for the most by a Notre Dame quarterback through his first 12 career starts since 1966.
Freeman was direct about what he sees in Carr. He called him the leader and said his biggest responsibility is to be the best teammate he can be, the kind of player who makes everyone around him better. Freeman added that Carr has done a tremendous job figuring out when teammates need a push and when they need support, which is not a small thing for a quarterback still early in his career.
The size of that leadership test shows up in the way Freeman described the room around him. Carr is now speaking to teammates who are 6-8 and 6-7, and Freeman said they respond when he talks. That is more than a compliment. It is the difference between a quarterback who simply knows the offense and one who can steady it when the pace rises.
Freeman also pointed to the way Carr has used practice, even when it comes with risk. He said Carr has made throws in camp that he might not try in a game, but that work matters because practice is where a team finds out what can become part of the full menu later. In other words, Carr is not being asked to avoid mistakes entirely; he is being asked to learn the edges of what he can do and then decide wisely when the season starts.
That is where the praise and the caution meet. Carr is on watch lists for the Manning Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and he is on virtually every Heisman Trophy short list. Freeman does not want any of that in Carr's head. He said he wants him focused on being the best version of CJ and the best leader he can be, not on being a first-round pick or chasing a trophy race that begins long before the season ends.
For Notre Dame, the next test is simple to name and hard to fake: whether Carr's voice can carry from Fall Camp into games that count. Freeman has already shown that he trusts the arm and the mind. The real measure now is whether the rest of the offense keeps following when the pressure is real.
