‘There’s a balancing act with freedom’ – Notre Dame assistant details the give and take that CJ Carr is trying to figure out
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was asked about quarterback CJ Carr on Tuesday. Denbrock had some high praise, and discussed his maturation.
After two weeks of clear growth, Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr had his best performance to date against the Purdue Boilermakers last weekend. During the team’s 56 to 30 victory, Carr completed 10 of 12 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. The redshirt freshman signal caller looked calm, composed, and made a ton of big plays.
There was a lot of focus after the game on the “out and up” double move for a long touchdown to junior wide receiver Jordan Faison. On the play, Carr gave Faison a hand signal to adjust his route to take a shot. It worked beautifully and had Fighting Irish fans everywhere geeking out. Seeing a quarterback in only his third start showing that much football IQ and command was something to behold.
As the 6-3, 210-pound passer gains more and more experience, there is an expectation that Carr will be given more control over the offense. Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock spoke to the media on Tuesday in preparation for their game against the Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend. Coach Denbrock was asked about Carr’s growth, as well as his ownership of the offense.
While the goal is for Carr to take more ownership, this Notre Dame staff still understands that there are steps to mastering the offense. It won’t always be perfect, and Carr needs to understand that as he incrementally gains that trust.
“There’s a balancing act with freedom,” Denbrock told the media. “You love it when it works, but there’s been other times where we’ve tapped things out where we haven’t been as successful. It’s giving him an opportunity to experience being the quarterback and being in control. Ultimately the more we can turn over to the quarterback, the better offensive unit we’re going to be because they’re the ones playing the game. We have to ask a lot of the quarterback. That check he made in particular between him and Faison, and the communication, was spot on, and what we needed at the moment. We got a great result because of it.”
Balancing act with freedom
Carr, who has been around the game of football his entire life, has been lauded for his football IQ even back to his high school days. Those compliments have continued from head coach Marcus Freeman and the Irish staff since he arrived back in the 2024 recruiting class. There are a lot of people around that program who believe that Carr has the potential to be one of the best the program has had in some time. We are just getting an early taste of his upside and talent.
When Denbrock is talking about a “balancing act with freedom”, this is a comment about the amount of freedom Carr will receive to play outside of the structure of the offense. For an offensive attack to be good, Carr will need to be able to function well within the overall structure. He will need to understand what the offense is trying to accomplish and the process put in place to do so. Functioning inside the ideology is what matters most.
For a good offense to become a great one, however, it needs to take on the identity of its quarterback at times. Having a signal caller confident enough in himself to make changes when needed and adjustments on the fly can significantly raise the ceiling of a unit. That is the next step for Carr and the Notre Dame offense. We got a taste of it against Purdue and should receive more throughout the season.
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