The 48 hours between Notre Dame capping its fall camp with its annual jersey scrimmage – won by the defense – and the announcement of the Week 1 starting quarterback were filled with speculation, concern and arguments. Irish fans got their answer this afternoon when the social media team released a simple post:

Luckily, no one is going to argue anymore, right?

I don’t think any Notre Dame coach would argue with the supposition that this competition did not play out ideally for the staff and fan base. You always want someone to seize the job with authority and leave no doubt he is the guy, and that clearly did not happen here. If it had, a decision would’ve been made before fall camp ended.

By all accounts, neither Carr nor QB2 Kenny Minchey set the world on fire. Now, it needs to be said that both were going against a defense that’s likely better than any they’ll face in a regular-season game this year, so that’s not, in and of itself, a reason for concern.

None of us really know how the competition played out, but the tea leaves suggest Minchey was making fewer mistakes, while Carr was showing more aggressiveness and accuracy. If that’s accurate, it might be a point of interest that the coaches landed on the (theoretically) higher-variance option.

The optimist view

It’s the off-season, so we’re all optimists, right? So let’s examine this decision from as positive a perspective as we can.

First, and maybe most importantly to the season, Notre Dame may not need Carr to be great to get past these first two games against Miami and Texas A&M. Remember, the Irish were able to get past A&M on the road to open last season without Riley Leonard doing a lot. ND’s defense, by every account, is tracking to be really, really good again in 2025, and Miami’s defense was quite bad last year (it was the main reason they didn’t make the playoff). There should be openings for him, and even if there’s not, a conservative offensive game plan may be good enough to win at Hard Rock Stadium. The 2nd game is at home, with all the accompanying advantages.

Carr also enters the season with big-time pedigree. He was the highest-ranked Notre Dame signee at the position since Brandon Wimbush in 2015.

Let’s not forget, also, that Carr has as enviable a group of players around him on offense as the Irish have seen in many a year. The running back group, even without the injured Kedren Young, is stacked to the gills with capable players (Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Aneyas Williams, Gi’Bran Payne and rapidly ascending freshman Nolan James) and the offensive line appears to be excellent. The buzz is good on the receivers, from Jaden Greathouse to Will Pauling. Pauling so impressed his new teammates with his dogged work ethic that he’s known as the “Gug Rat” and was voted captain – a remarkable feat for a transfer non-QB.

And if the Irish secure wins in those first two games, things lighten up (somewhat) from there, creating potential opportunities to get Carr more low-stress work if the Irish play well enough to grab some double-digit leads. If all goes well, there will be ample opportunity to develop Carr over the course of the year so that the version of him we see in December and (hopefully) beyond is far better than the one currently throwing the helmet on.

The pessimist view

Alright, we sort of have to dig into the other side, right?

As I noted above, the way this played out was, barring injury, probably about as unfortunate as you could’ve had. Carr was the presumed favorite all along, but over time Minchey began building more and more buzz, to the point that most program observers expected him to ultimately be named the starter. Then, all of a sudden, there CJ is in a Tweet.

Now, to be clear, I am in Trust the Staff mode. I flipped out over a (admittedly pretty horrible) bad moment last September and I’m not going to make that mistake again. I do not believe this is some sort of mismanaged issue a la DeShone Kizer vs. Malik Zaire, or even Dayne Crist vs. Tommy Rees. As many in our writers’ room will point out, if making a close call of Carr over Minchey in what was by every account a close battle creates tangible problems in the locker room, then the culture Freeman’s built isn’t what we think it is anyway.

That said, you can squint and see potential issues. Minchey is a good quarterback, and a confident one – he’s on record saying he believes he’s the best in the country. He has been here longer than Carr, and surely must have friends on the team. (Jeremiyah Love raised a couple of eyebrows when he posted Instagram videos of himself playing EA Sports College Football 26 with Minchey at quarterback, which he’d have had to change himself as Carr is the default starter in the game.) It’ll be down to him, ultimately, to handle being named QB2 in a team-first way to ensure there are no issues. We’ve heard nothing about him to suggest he will do otherwise.

Ultimately, I don’t think this becomes a problem unless Carr stinks it up in Miami, which is always a possibility. I probably don’t have to remind you what happened the last time the two teams played.

A couple of bad interceptions in the opener, and we’re doing this whole dance again. You really don’t want to have to be bouncing between the two quarterbacks. Carr needs to come out confident and unafraid, which won’t be the simplest thing to do amid the Canes’ planned Orange Out.

Carr is considered a confident player himself, so I don’t anticipate any kind of disaster, but at the same time, you never know for sure until somebody proves it.

If you want a silver lining to this bad timeline, we now know Kenny Minchey shouldn’t be a big step down from Carr if circumstances force him into the game. And whether Carr is good or not, it seems very likely Minchey will be needed at some point or another in 2025. Especially with an expanded playoff, there are too many games to assume Carr will never get dinged up.

Trust the Staff

I can’t tell anyone how to think, but remember, this coaching staff navigated all sorts of stuff – bad luck, poor play, injuries, etc. – and played for a national championship last year, winning 3 big postseason games along the way.

We don’t know yet why they landed on Carr. I’m sure we’ll get some answers when Freeman has his Miami preview press conference in a few days’ time. But they’ve made enough good decisions in the last few years – and are basically batting 1.000 in the last 11 months – that I’m riding with them. It may not have played out exactly as we anticipated when he committed, but CJ Carr as 2025 quarterback has felt like the outcome for a while now, and now we’re here. Go Irish.