Shockwaves shot through the college football recruiting world today when five-star quarterback CJ Carr announced for the Irish. The 6’3″, 190 pound Michigander is a huge win for Tommy Rees and Notre Dame not just because of his talent – at #20 overall in the 2024 247 Composite, he’s the highest ranked QB to pledge to the Irish since Dayne Crist in 2008 – but because of his bloodlines. If you thought his name sounds familiar, you’re right; he’s the grandson of none other than Lloyd Carr himself, Michigan’s last (half) national championship winning coach. That connection of course led a lot of people to pencil him into Michigan’s 2024 class a long time ago, and reasonably so. Rees refused to be outworked in building a relationship with CJ though, and it paid off in a big way today.

Carr has visited Notre Dame numerous times, most notably last year’s Irish Invasion (where he earned his offer), the USC game last October, spring practice in April, and this year’s Irish Invasion camp. This brief exchange from Invasion this past weekend seems, in hindsight, laden with significance:

As he walks away, Freeman seems to wear the expression of a man who knows. He knows how you can tell which wallet in that bag is his, and he knows who his 2024 QB is.

Recruiting Service Rankings

247Sports Composite — 5 star (.9873 rating), #20 overall, #5 QB, #1 in MI

On3 Consensus — 4 star (93.33 rating), #23 overall, #5 QB, #1 in MI

The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.

247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #50 overall, #6 QB, #1 in MI

On3 — 4 star (93 rating), #31 overall, #4 QB, #1 in MI

Rivals — 4 star (6.0 rating), #22 overall, #3 QB, #1 in MI

ESPN — Not evaluated (lol)

Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s. So while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves.

Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (95 rating)

Cohort

In addition to Notre Dame and Michigan, Carr holds offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin, among many others.

Highlights

I can’t believe this is sophomore film… I’m on record as being a fan of Drew Pyne’s moxie and as believing that Angeli is likely better than a lot of Irish fans think he is, but even so, Carr makes throws here as a 15 year old that maybe Tyler Buchner can make, and that’s about it among the current Irish quarterbacks. There were at least a half dozen plays that elicited a spoken “wow” from me as I went through this reel, starting right from the first play. Carr throws a really nice ball, with tight spiral after tight spiral no matter the length or direction of the throw; it can get a little wobbly when he throws on the run, but even then his throws are on the money. He does a good job of being steady in the pocket and delivering a confident throw when the opening is there, even if it means he’s going to get hit (again, first play).

When he does move, either by design or on a scramble, he moves very well and shows a nice knack for evading pressure. Even when he’s forced to scramble he does an excellent job of keeping his eyes downfield and has the arm strength and sound mechanics to deliver strikes on the run. The only thing I can really see that needs any kind of real work is that he’s not using his eyes to move the safety around – at least I don’t think he is aside from maybe one play, it’s a little hard to tell on these videos. But that’s super duper nitpicky for a high school sophomore, and given the way he talks about the mental side of the game definitely something I expect him to improve in short order.

Sophomore film.

Impact

I’m not sure there’s a bigger fool’s errand in sports than trying to project a modern day college quarterback depth chart, but hey, this is what they pay us for. (Wait, I’m not getting paid for this? Ah, crap…) Beyond the mercurial nature of the position, what complicates things further is the Irish somewhat unexpectedly don’t have a 2023 signal caller committed yet. So the short version is that I really have no idea what to expect in the near term, but I do feel confident in saying that Carr has all the tools to be an elite college quarterback, multi-year starter, and perhaps (running away with myself here) a high draft pick. He looks that good. In fact he kind of reminds me of Jimmy Clausen in a lot of ways, but a little more physically developed at the same stage and way more mobile. Clausen, remember, put up one of the most prolific passing seasons in Notre Dame history and was drafted midway through the second round. So.

Welcome to, and I cannot stress this enough, the Irish family, CJ!