Hopes are riding high for Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame for their 2025 season. The HC stormed into the National Championship game last season with just one loss that came early in the season. And Freeman is one of the few HCs who have consistently gotten better at the job, putting forward a better season with every year he has that hat on. Without a doubt, Fighting Irish fans expect nothing short of their team’s brilliance this year. But before that, Freeman has an important issue to look after.

CJ Carr, who comes with the legacy of legendary coach Lloyd Carr, has immense expectations on his shoulders. From high school, he comes bearing a stellar report card. Across three seasons, his yards total 8,135. He also has a whopping total of 78 TDs, which are just the cherry on top of all his magic. He remained behind Riley Leonard in 2024, who was a key figure in that 14-2 finish. Now that he’s moving on to the draft, Carr is a central figure in the serious battle for the QB position currently underway at Notre Dame.

The spot comes down to three vying contenders. Along with Carr, Kenny Minchey and Steve Angeli are also trying to prove their worth for the title. All three players had the opportunity to showcase their talents during the Blue and Gold game. Later, Marcus Freeman hinted that he might be picking his QB1 soon enough. However, that poses a threat to the starting hopefuls. Freeman said, “You would like to be able to go into the fall with a two-quarterback battle. It’s really hard with a three-quarterback battle. We have to sit down and have conversations about what’s best for our program and our quarterback, and we’ll make those decisions in the future.” This means that one of these three names will sadly be axed from the race.

In an April 14 episode of Locked On Irish, Tyler Wojciak said how the situation will play out. He said, “Look, we already knew this was going to happen eventually, right? Like, eventually you have to decide a starter, and someone is going to come in third place.” Also, the contenders don’t have much time. Because come fall, we won’t be seeing one of these names.

“To me, that quote makes it seem like they are going to probably have to whittle it down to two after spring practice ends here, this upcoming week. He’s [Freeman] not going to tell us directly who came in third, but we’re probably going to be able to figure it out if one of these guys decides to submit their name in the transfer portal, which opens up on April 18th,” Wojciak said.

That leaves less than a week for Marcus Freeman and the QB1 hopeful trio. But from what went down in the Blue and Gold Game, it seems that CJ Carr is turning out to have the upper hand in the race.

CJ Carr steals the show at Notre Dame’s spring scrimmage

In the reformatted spring scrimmage, which saw the Fighting Irish’s offense pitted against its own defense, the quarterback room had a clear win. Each of the three players got four series. CJ Carr, in particular, came to play, and how! Among the three, Carr performed the best, according to his numbers. He completed 14 of his 19 passes, produced 107 yards, and also scored two touchdowns. However, he also made a poor interception.

247Sports wrote that Carr made some throws and made “easy throws look easy throughout his appearance.” He made a great throw to TE Kevin Bauman, which added a gain of 23. Next, made another one in an even narrower window, to TE Jack Larsen for a gain of 24. Carr is leaving no doubts about coming back from an elbow injury from last year. He missed a whole season while Leonard headlined the offense. This year, it looks like he will turn out to be his likely successor.

That limb, which is a strength of Carr’s, is back up and running like new. His playing time on the field came after Angeli and Minchey, who made far less impressive numbers. Carr, on the other hand, scored a field goal along with the touchdowns. Though his interception remains a problem, as the other two were able to protect the ball, his overall performance wowed everyone. Publications are unanimously pitching Carr as the star of the show.

Carr looks to be in his best health, ready to take charge and hopefully land the QB1 spot. But who will Marcus Freeman keep as his final two picks? Also, who’s going to be the unfortunate player who’d be left out? We won’t have to wait long to find out.