Notre Dame freshman quarterback 'way ahead' of where eventual NFL QB was, position coach says
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SOUTH BEND — Not since Desmond Ridder in 2018 at Cincinnati has Notre Dame football assistant coach Gino Guidugli worked with a primary starting quarterback as untested and as youthful as CJ Carr.
Despite the 0-2 start, early indications on Carr suggest he compares favorably with Ridder at the same stage of their careers.
“Way ahead,” Guidugli said after Tuesday’s practice. “CJ, as a passer, is light years ahead — just knowledge of the game. Des got in and got by with his athletic ability and grew into a passer and grew into an NFL quarterback.”
A four-year starter who approached many of Guidugli’s school records from the start of the millennium (2001-04), Ridder went 44-6 as a starter and went in the third round to the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.
While Ridder has bounced around since then, landing Tuesday as a backup with the Minnesota Vikings, he remains Guidugli’s standard for multiyear progression after winning a job as a redshirt freshman.
Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was in the same role at Cincinnati during Ridder’s Bearcats career.
“(Ridder) was special in the ability to come to the sideline and be able to recall what he had in the last series,” Guidugli said. “You're going through the playlist of the seven-play drive. On play 2, what did you see?”
Ridder, down on the sideline, talking by phone to Guidugli upstairs, could recreate his reads in vivid detail. And this was in the days before in-game iPads were legal on the college level.
“You're like, ‘Yeah, that's exactly what I saw from the box,’“ Guidugli said. “He had an uncanny ability. And you see a little bit of that in CJ, but they're aided with the iPad.”
Admittedly worried in the spring about how self-critical Carr could be after a mistake, Guidugli has been pleased with the young QB’s growth in flipping the page immediately while learning in real time from his mistakes.
“I love it because he'll be the first one to admit, ‘Man, I (messed) that up,’“ Guidugli said. “ Or like, ‘Damn, I'm an idiot.’ It's like, ‘All right, next play.’“
No one is yelling at Carr when things go awry. He’s not getting the Drew Pyne treatment from the latter’s first career start with the Irish against California in 2022.
“My job is to build confidence in (Carr),” Guidugli said. “Here's the looks. Here's what we expect. It's a lot easier now for them when they can look at the iPad.”
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr shows a veteran's recall after two starts
Carr, while facing a pair of teams now ranked in the top 10, ranks 33rd nationally in yards passing per game (257) and 44th in yards per attempt (8.3). He’s been picked twice, with one regrettable throw per outing, but he’s completing 62.9% of his passes (72nd nationally) and has thrown for three scores while scrambling in for another.
He's wiped out a 14-point deficit at Miami, and he’s blown a pair of 10-point leads against Texas A&M.
His quarterback super-processor seems to run on the latest in semiconductor technology. Take his detailed postgame explanation of his second-quarter interception against the Aggies.
“We had four verts called,” he said of the four-wideout look. “They kind of zoned it all off. Tried to get to the checkdown. Three-technique (defensive tackle) jumped up high. Tried to sail it. Just can’t happen. Have to put our defense in better positions. It starts with me.”
In Carr’s defense, the Irish have recorded touchdowns on six of their eight trips into the red zone thus far. And it would be seven of eight if Virginia grad transfer Malachi Fields had run a little sharper slant on third-and-goal from the A&M 4 in the first half.
“CJ has come in and played with great poise, has command of the offense, and you guys see it out there on Saturday,” Guidugli said. “He can throw the ball with the best in the country. We just have to keep him making good decisions and get this first win.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr, Desmond Ridder comparison, traits, attributes
