For once, there isn’t any mystery surrounding Notre Dame’s quarterback situation entering spring practice. CJ Carr is the guy. After starting every game in 2025 and delivering a strong debut season, Carr is a Heisman contender, and the conversation has shifted beyond whether he can handle the role to just how great he can become. For Carr, his goals this year aren’t just about improving his stats, its about improving his leadership.
Carr’s first season as a starter checked a lot of boxes. He completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 2,741 yards with 24 touchdowns and just six interceptions, showing poise and command of the offense. But as quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli made clear this spring, the next step isn’t about dramatically improving the stat line.
It’s about taking ownership of the offense.
“I think CJ is going to have a chance to be one of the best quarterbacks ever to come through the University of Notre Dame,” Guidugli said. “This spring we expect him to be a leader of this football tea. My expectation would be to be a captain.”
That’s a different challenge than Carr faced a year ago.
From earning the job to owning the offense
Last spring, Carr was still trying to win the starting job and establish himself. Even after earning it, there’s a natural tendency for first-year starters to focus inward – learning the system, avoiding mistakes, and proving they belong.
Guidugli described it as seeing the game “through a straw.”
Now, that perspective has to widen.
“This spring we expect him to be a leader of this football team,” Guidugli said. “Last year, you’re trying to earn your spurs. Now he’s earned that with his play.”
Carr echoed that shift. The message from his coaches is clear – this is his offense now.
“He told me the thing to focus on this year is more leadership How can we bring these young guys along,” Carr said. “If there’s something that needs to be said, say it because this is your offense.”
At the same time, Carr made it clear he understands what that really means.
“It’s my offense, but it’s not really like that,” Carr said. “It’s our offense. We’ve got to go execute together.”
That balance – ownership without isolation – is exactly what Notre Dame needs in what could be Carr’s last year at Notre Dame.
Why Year 2 matters so much
For the first time in several years, Notre Dame enters spring with real continuity at quarterback.
There’s no competition for QB1. There’s no transfer learning the system. Carr has a full year of experience in the offense, and just as importantly, the players around him have a full year playing with him.
That familiarity changes everything.
“It makes the process a lot easier,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “This is the first time in a while we weren’t trying to break somebody in.”
With that continuity comes expectation.
Carr doesn’t need to prove he can run the offense anymore. He needs to elevate it – and that starts with how he leads.
Where Carr can still improve
That doesn’t mean there aren’t areas for growth. Carr pointed to one specifically: red-zone decision-making.
“I think some of the decision-making in the red zone,” Carr said. “We were really efficient throughout, but some of those decisions end up with a turnover.”
It’s a subtle but important distinction. The offense functioned well for most of the field, but inside the 20, the margin for error shrinks.
“If we can eliminate that and put a few more balls in the end zone, the results are going to be a lot different,” Carr added.
That kind of awareness is part of the maturation process. Carr isn’t searching for wholesale changes – just the small adjustments that can turn a good offense into a great one.
Setting the tone for the entire offense
Ultimately, Carr’s impact this season will go beyond the stat sheet.
His leadership will shape the development of the quarterback room, where younger players like Blake Hebert and Noah Grubbs are competing for the backup role. It will influence how quickly new receivers integrate. And it will help define how the offense responds to adversity – something that has been a recurring theme under Marcus Freeman.
Carr has already shown he can handle being the starting quarterback at Notre Dame.
Now, he’s being asked to do something more difficult.
Being the leader who takes everyone else with him.
That’s the next step in his evolution — and the one that will ultimately define how far this offense can go in 2026.
