“That is more important to me than anything. It’s about decision making. Because there’s so many different aspects that go into the outcome of a play. We give the quarterback credit when things are good, we’ll blame him if things are bad. But the one thing they control is their decision making and the ability to get everybody on the same page.”
Now it’s on offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli to push that process forward. Carr’s strengths are not Minchey’s. Carr’s weaknesses are not Minchey’s, either. But either way, Notre Dame’s staff can now move forward with a plan tailored to its quarterback, getting beyond the competition portion of the preseason and into actual game prep for Miami. No matter who won the quarterback job, figuring out how to win with a first-time starter at Hard Rock Stadium was always going to be harder than picking between the candidates.
There’s plenty of reason to think Notre Dame is built to win with a first-time starter this season, even if winning on opening night was always going to be a challenge. The offensive line remains one of the better ones in college football. The receiving corps is the best of the Freeman era, by a wide margin. Love might be the best back ever to run out of the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel. And the defense that picked off Carr so often during camp can set its sights on somebody else.
“Our quarterback hasn’t started a college football game. And we’ve got a lot of guys that are surrounding him that have,” Guidugli said. “And I think early in the season we gotta lean on those guys and not put all the pressure on the quarterback. I think we got plenty of talent around them. We got a great offensive line. We got a great backfield. Just not making every snap life or death on a quarterback decision.”
Easy to say. Harder to do.
Freeman has bet on raw talent before, starting freshman Anthonie Knapp at left tackle against Texas A&M and rolling with freshman cornerback Leonard Moore by midseason. He has had no regrets with either. And even when Freeman bet on talent without a payoff last season, he cut his losses on guard Sam Pendleton by October.
Freeman has more than earned the benefit of the doubt that he’ll get this quarterback call right. Last season’s run to the national title game represents a mountain of evidence, including how he pivoted after the loss to Northern Illinois.
In four years of big calls, this is just the next one.
Now CJ Carr will get the chance to prove his head coach right.