Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539449
16 SEPT. 20, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE C J Carr, former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard re- members, loves football to a genuinely shocking extent. One day during fall camp last sea- son, Leonard finished lunch and went to watch some film himself. He found Carr, which wasn't rare. A true fresh- man at the time, the 18-year-old signal- caller would often show up at 5 a.m. to watch tape. But what Leonard saw that day took him aback. In his spare time, Carr was watching film from Aaron Rodgers' 2012 season. "He's like, 'Yeah, I'm on the eighth game right now, just trying to pick up how he does five-step drops,'" Leonard, now with the Indianapolis Colts, told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "I mean, I love it. It's just so random. You don't hear that from a freshman quarterback." Carr's habits, Leonard said, often included "just watching ball to watch ball." He said at the time that Carr was far more advanced than he was as a true freshman. Ian Book, the all-time record holder for most wins as a Notre Dame starting quarterback (30 from 2017-20), said the same thing. "I think he's throwing better than I was at that age," Book told BGI. "His mechanics are dialed in. He's got an awesome throwing motion." Carr is close with Book — who lives in South Bend and with whom he shares a private quarterback coach, Will Hewlett — and Leonard. The redshirt freshman called both when Irish head coach Mar- cus Freeman told him he won the start- ing job after a heated battle with red- shirt sophomore Kenny Minchey. Book reminded him to avoid the out- side noise and resist comparing himself to others. Leonard told him to be him- self and let it loose. There wasn't much more he could say. "It's not like a guy that you have to be like, 'Alright, you can't do this and you gotta lock in on football, you can't keep going out and not showing up to class, you gotta lock in and treat people with respect,'" Leonard said. "He already does all that stuff." 'TALENT IS OFF THE CHARTS' When Hewlett asked Kris Mitchell about Carr, Mitchell's eyes lit up. The former Notre Dame wide receiver and Jacksonville, Fla., native met Hewlett, a Jacksonville-based private quarterbacks coach, during NFL Draft prep season in the spring. He caught passes for some of the signal-callers Hewlett was working with at the time. Without going into details about his relationship with Carr, Hewlett asked Mitchell, "Hey man, give me your honest feedback about CJ." Mitchell couldn't say enough about Carr. And in Hewlett's eyes, that told you all you needed to know. "He's like, 'Man, I love that kid,'" Hewlett told BGI on Aug. 20, the day after Carr was named the starter. "'Like, he is a dog. He's like a general out there,' I think was the term he used. He's just got a presence about him where it's like, yeah, the team will get behind that kid." Hewlett, who also trains NFL start- ers such as Josh Allen, Brock Purdy and OBSESSED Those who know him best — and who have done the job before — believe CJ Carr has all the tools to succeed as Notre Dame's quarterback Carr (left) has impressed former Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (right) with his work ethic and love of the game, while soaking up every ounce of knowledge he could from his veteran teammate. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER