Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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62 NOV. 7, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED M arcus Freeman had been in this situation before. A quarterback walked into his office, coming off the worst performance of his college career. That quarterback would later tell several media outlets that he believed Freeman was about to tell him that he'd never start a game at Notre Dame again. But the Notre Dame head football coach had his feet kicked up on his desk, tossed his signal-caller some candy and told him that the loss in ques- tion would wind up being the best thing that ever happened to him. That quarterback, of course, was Ri- ley Leonard. The worst performance of his career was Notre Dame's shock- ing upset loss to Northern Illinois, in which he threw the game away with an atrocious fourth-quarter interception. But Freeman, who had already decided he wouldn't replace Leonard, knew the thing he needed more than anything else at that time was confidence. "What you needed me to be in that moment is a lot different than maybe I do feel on the inside," Freeman told Leonard, now with the Indianapolis Colts, on a video call over two years later. "You needed that because it was our first negative moment together." Freeman's conversation with Leon- ard, parts of which Notre Dame posted on social media, was particularly rel- evant this week. His current quarter- back, CJ Carr, is coming off his own career-worst outing. He threw for just 5.3 yards per attempt and lost a fumble on a botched spike in a 28-24 loss. G ra n te d , C a r r 's p e r fo r m a n ce a t BYU was not comparable to Leonard's against NIU. But in Freeman's mind, confidence was what Carr needed, too. "He needed that exact same thing on Sunday," Freeman said. Freeman's public response, when asked about Carr's outing during his Oct. 26 press conference, reflected that. He acknowledged that there were several "one-on-one balls" Carr would like to have back, but he focused much more on the positives. Specifically, Carr's work in Notre Dame's last-gasp two-minute drill in the fourth quarter was some of his best. Focus on that, the fifth-year head coach indirectly im- plored his junior quarterback. "He made some throws in those two- minute situations that I don't know if I've seen, period, for any quarterback," Freeman said. "That's where there's a fine line with him because he's such a competitor, such a — at times a perfec- tionist that he can beat himself up on the ones that he didn't connect on. But it's my job to remind him how well he did play in certain situations." His approach, of course, worked be- fore. Leonard, his season on the brink of collapse, responded. He led Notre Dame to 13 consecutive wins and a trip to the national championship game while Carr, then a freshman, watched from the sidelines. Leonard hopes Carr learned a thing or two from him that season. But when people ask him what his advice for his ex-teammate is in times like these, he tells them, "I don't think he needs it." "Y'all got a general back there," Leon- ard told Freeman. "And we both know he's the most competitive person we've been around before. We all see the be- hind-the-scenes work that he puts in. That's the last dude that I'm worried about." It's clear that Freeman feels the same way. And why wouldn't he? While Carr has yet to put forth a sig- nature win in a blue-and-gold uniform, everything he's shown since enrolling in South Bend indicates it's coming. Poise, resilience and a commitment to improvement are all strengths of Notre Dame's signal-caller. Freeman expects he'll show the rest of college football sooner rather than later. "Let's continue to do the things you've done really, really well and not let it shake the confidence," Freeman said. "Which it won't. It won't." ✦ Head coach Marcus Freeman praised CJ Carr's late-game throws at BYU while emphasizing the impor- tance of maintaining his confidence after a difficult outing. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Learning From History Staff writer Jack Soble has covered Notre Dame athletics for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2023. Contact him at Jack.Soble@on3.com. OFF THE DOME JACK SOBLE