Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 13, 2025 5 T he only question on the pre- season personnel test Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman still didn't have an answer for when he walked out of his Week 1 press conference prior to the Fighting Irish's sea- son-opening matchup with Mi- ami was, "Who's going to start at right guard, Sullivan Absher or Guerby Lambert?" Trick question, at that. Both could be right answers. And both could play — and play well — against the Hurricanes. Free- man offered genuine assurance of that. The rest of the Irish offensive line? Set in stone. And battle tested, for that matter. Two of the other four starters also started in the national championship game and one of them, Anthonie Knapp, started in every 2024 game but the national title tilt. Safety battle opposite Adon Shuler? Won by Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stro- man. Luke Talich and Tae Johnson would start at a lot of other places with how well they performed in camp. Just not at Notre Dame, a defensive back factory of late. The top four linebackers were season- long stalwarts a season ago. One of them is a team captain in Drayk Bowen. The middle of the Notre Dame defense is in good hands. Good idea about defensive line rota- tions? Yup. As many as six defensive ends are capable of appearing in any given game. Freeman said his most glar- ing sore spot entering camp was the in- terior of the defensive line. He exited camp with as much encouraging con- viction about Notre Dame's defensive tackles as he had in any other unit on the roster. If you've made it this far by reading every word above, then you'll know that's high praise. Heck, Notre Dame even settled its quarterback competition exactly one week before Freeman spoke in advance of the season opener. But beyond the questions of who's going to play where and how often — in regard to the quar- terbacks, the respective answers were CJ Carr and for as long as he proves he's the proper QB1 — a multitude of other que- ries pertaining to Notre Dame quarter- backing will define the 2025 Irish season. Just how good is Carr? Will he ever need to be replaced by Kenny Minchey? Can one of or a combination of them get Notre Dame by its two toughest games of the season in the first two kickoffs? Or with a 1-1 record, at the worst? Will quarterback play cost the Irish a game they otherwise have no business los- ing and therefore put a College Football Playoff appearance in jeopardy if the re- cord isn't 2-0 after facing Texas A&M? That's just where Notre Dame is in the infant stages of this season, quite frankly. So much else is in place, so much else re- sembles a national championship-caliber roster, that the short-term fate of the pro- gram will be either propped up or tumbled to the turf by how well Carr & Co. play. Unfair expectations for a redshirt fresh- man starting for the first time? In a vac- uum, maybe. But this is Notre Dame. It'll suck you up and spit you out and make you wish you were in a vacuum instead if you aren't up for lofty expectations. In naming Carr the starter, Freeman entrusted a teenager to take what he unequivocally understands is a trophy- winning roster to the promised land. He knew what he was doing and how big of a decision he had to make. Only time will tell if it was the right one, but he needed to take a stand one way or the other — for his sanity and for the sake of his ultra-talented football team. "There's direction," Freeman said. "There is no confusion on who's going to be the quarter- back. You're going to see that chemistry continue to build. "I know the guys on our of- fense are confident in both quarterbacks because it was built through camp. Both quar- terbacks went with the ones, but I think it's great for our whole program to have direc- tion moving forward." Now it comes down to Carr leading the team in that right direction. A quarterback can't be a pas- senger. He's got to be someone steering the ship, pressing the pedal, pushing the buttons. A quarterback is in control. In this case, in control of Notre Dame's 2025 destiny. Adequate quarterback play can get Notre Dame back to the CFP. Good quar- terback play can get Notre Dame back to the national championship. Heck, with this roster, good quarterback play might even be enough for the Irish to win it all. Carr might not even need to be great. But he needs to be passable. Oth- erwise, he puts the Irish at risk of not making the most of a collection of coaches and players that rivals any that have come before them this century. Freeman's message to a kid in such a spotlight is to simplify, simplify, sim- plify. The talent around him and on the other side of the ball is extraordinary. He doesn't need to be Superman. "Win this play," Freeman said. "Not the last one. Just win this one right in front of you." Little wins equal the stacking of larger ones. Larger wins are what everyone is ultimately after. Especially a group this good. ✦ Redshirt freshman CJ Carr (above) won an offseason quarterback competi- tion with redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey and hopes to not look back. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER QB Play Will Determine How Far The Irish Go In 2025 Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA