The streets will never forget this past August’s quarterback battle between Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr. Coming out of the spring, Carr looked to be in the driver’s seat coming out of a quiet spring practice off the success of the 2024 playoff run. With mostly closed practices during the fall, information was sparse and confounding. Minchey was leading the battle and there were rumors he’d be named the starting quarterback imminently. What happened? Was CJ Carr going to transfer now? How could he look so good before and then lose the competition? Was Minchey even better than anyone believed?
Then on Tuesday, August 19th it was Carr announced as the starting quarterback just 12 days before the season opener at Miami. Is it safe to say things worked out? Despite the 0-2 start, Carr finished the season with several Freshman All-American honors–and while many of his overall numbers aren’t gaudy–he finished 6th nationally in passer rating following the regular season and 3rd nationally in yards per attempt.
Good Not Great?
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows at quarterback for Notre Dame in 2025 of course. The opener was frustrating on multiple levels, Carr had a certified clunker against USC, and he did end up just above average nationally in total passing yards on the season. Although, I would argue had he been allowed to Carr would’ve thrown for approximately 12,000 yards against Syracuse.
For many people throughout the country (especially since the Irish didn’t play a ton of high profile games later in the season) Carr was an intriguing and nice quarterback in his debut season who benefitted from a backfield of Love and Price. That may have some truth to it, although it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Still, the 2025 season will largely be one that’s considered a good to very good start with Carr about to step into the spotlight more in 2026 and assume a far larger role within the offense.
One More Run
What’s funny is that while Carr remains a little bit of a secret among Notre Dame fans, for the people who have looked at him closely, he’s building a foundation that could see him valued as a first round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Here’s the AI scouting report blurb on Carr:
“CJ Carr is a highly-touted quarterback prospect known for his football intelligence, polished mechanics, accuracy, and touch, projecting as a potential high NFL draft pick (likely 2027 class) with elite traits like quick release, good pocket awareness, and the ability to make all throws, though some scouts want to see continued development in arm strength and decisiveness against tougher competition to solidify his top-tier status, with his exceptional processing and leadership already drawing comparisons to top college and pro talents.”
I agree with most of that. Carr doesn’t have the super elite arm talent that’ll make scouts drool but he’s shown an outrageous high level of quarterback play early in his career with a skill-set that is plenty good enough to finally see a Notre Dame quarterback succeed in the NFL.
Will 2026 be his final year with the Irish? Right now, I think it will be and that’s why many others are feeling the pressure of going “all in” for this upcoming season. If he does return, that will likely be a personal decision based on enjoying himself at Notre Dame because I’m certain the scouts, agents, and NFL personnel will tell him it’s wise to leave after his redshirt sophomore season.
Snap Count
If you had taken a poll in the days leading up to the starting quarterback announcement I bet the vast majority of fans would’ve guessed both Carr and Minchey were going to see the field a lot. That was with the thinking that even if Minchey won the job surely Carr was too good to keep on the sidelines.
Carr ended up driving the bus nearly the entire season.
| PLAYER | SNAPS |
|---|---|
| Carr | 688 |
| Minchey | 87 |
| Buchner | 4 |
For a non-starting quarterback, at least Minchey got some credible work, including series against Purdue, Arkansas, Navy, Syracuse, and Stanford. With the close fall competition, this time on the field attributed to Minchey being able to transfer out and sign a lucrative NIL deal at Kentucky where he’ll continue his career.
Grade: A-
Carr exceeded expectations and was one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country. He didn’t put the offense on his back for long stretches so the grade can’t be incredibly high–that’s something to hope for in the future.
I used to joke that we barely knew that much about Kenny Minchey. In this era of mostly closed practices, anyone not seeing the field regularly can be a mystery. We finally got to see him a little bit in the wild although just 29 career pass attempts and no touchdowns through the air will always feel a little disappointing in that it didn’t work out more for him with the Irish.
Freshman quarterback Blake Hebert never stood a chance in 2025. He enrolled early and was buried behind a Carr-Minchey-Angeli depth chart during the spring. The next 8 months will be key to his future with Notre Dame bringing in two freshmen quarterbacks behind him, one of whom (Noah Grubbs) will be competing for reps this upcoming spring.
When I saw the title of the article, I immediately thought B+, so I mostly agree. I am interested to see if he gets better at ball security in 2026. Played basically 4 opponents with a pulse this year (A&M, Miami, USC, Pitt) and had 5 interceptions in those 4 games. Not the end of the world, but with another soft schedule next year, there’s going to be a ton of pressure not to turn the ball over in our couple big games.
Getting all the first team reps this offseason should certainly help him build a nice rapport with the new receivers, but I’m extremely skeptical that this roster will have a true #1 WR next season. Carr’s pretty good at spreading the ball around, so that might not be a big deal, but it was really nice to have the option to throw a jump ball to Fields on 3rd and long this year. I would imagine there will be more 3rd & longs in 2026 without Love in the backfield, so it will be a very different offense for Carr to direct.