Notre Dame’s CJ Carr, Leonard Moore Named to Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List

The Walter Camp Football Foundation released its 50-man 2026 FBS Player of the Year preseason watch list, and Notre Dame landed two players on it. Junior quarterback CJ Carr and junior cornerback Leonard Moore were both selected, making the Irish one of only five schools in the country with an honoree on each side of the ball. The list includes 41 offensive players and nine defensive players, and Moore is one of the nine.

The award has been handed out since 1967 and is decided by a vote of 138 FBS head coaches and sports information directors. Semifinalists are announced in early November, with three finalists selected from that group in early December before the winner is named in mid-December. Four Notre Dame players have won it outright: Ken MacAfee in 1977, Tim Brown in 1987, Raghib Ismail in 1990, and Manti Te’o in 2012, a total tied for second-most all time.

“We are proud to continue the great work of Walter Camp, considered the father of American football, and recognize the very best college football players in the nation,” Walter Camp Football Foundation president Michael Madera said.

Carr Brings the Production

Carr started all 12 games last season and threw for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns against six interceptions, completing 195 of 293 attempts. Per Notre Dame Athletics, those 24 scoring passes are tied for the most in a player’s first 12 career starts at Notre Dame since 1966. He also threw a touchdown pass in every game, the longest such streak by an Irish quarterback since 2014. Among returning Power 4 quarterbacks, Carr ranks first in yards per completion at 14.06, second in yards per attempt at 9.35, and second in touchdown rate at 8.2 percent.

Carr’s high-water mark came at Arkansas, where he put up 354 yards and four touchdowns. He threw for 342 yards and two scores against NC State and 299 and two more at Boston College. Against Navy, he needed only 13 completions on 16 attempts to throw for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Carr was separately named to the 81-player Maxwell Award watch list earlier this month, a solo Notre Dame selection announced two weeks before this one.

Moore Is Already on the Award Circuit

Moore was a unanimous All-American in 2025 despite missing two regular-season games. In 10 starts, he led Notre Dame with five interceptions, seventh-most nationally, and added 31 tackles, a forced fumble, and seven pass breakups. His PFF grade led the country at 91.8 overall and 92.5 in coverage, and quarterbacks who targeted him managed a 45.9 passer rating. He closed the year with a 46-yard pick-six against Syracuse and a three-breakup, one-interception afternoon at Stanford.

The rest of his preseason slate is stacked accordingly. Moore has already been named to the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Lott IMPACT Trophy, and Allstate Wuerffel Trophy watch lists this month, with the Wuerffel nod coming Aug. 11 and the Thorpe nod on Aug. 12.

What It Means for Notre Dame

Notre Dame’s preseason expectations are a reflection of both Carr and Moore’s talent and potential, and the watch lists reflect it: a returning starting quarterback in the Heisman conversation and a unanimous All-American corner on the national award circuit, attached to a team coming off a 10-2 finish that ended at No. 10 in the AP poll and No. 11 in both the CFP rankings and the coaches poll.

Turning it into finalist traction is a matter of what happens from now through November: Carr will need to build on his impressive first year and take over more games than he did a year ago. Moore will need quarterbacks to keep throwing his way after a season in which they had every reason to stop. If both hit that mark, Notre Dame’s ceiling is a playoff run with the best player on the field on both sides of the ball in most, if not every game, they will play this year.