CJ Carr and his Notre Dame teammates ended their spring practice schedule with the annual Blue & Gold Game on Saturday afternoon. The atmosphere was lively, drawing a near-record crowd, but Carr’s showing on the day wasn’t particularly standout or dominant.
Brad Powers: CJ Carr’s Off Day Doesn’t Change His Elite Upside at Notre Dame
Carr reportedly wrapped up Notre Dame’s spring game, completing 7 of 15 passes for 55 yards, along with one interception and one sack.
His outing got off to a rough start, as he went just 2-of-9 early on before settling in. Analyst Brad Powers was in attendance and shared some key notes on Carr’s performance.
“CJ Carr had an off day,” Powers wrote. “3-4 passes were way off the mark, the other incompletions were great plays by the DB’s. Wouldn’t overthink this. Those in attendance during last week’s scrimmage said it was one of the best practices by an ND QB in years. I think Carr deserves to be among the Heisman favorites, but I’d like to see more consistency.”
Across observations from several analysts, the consensus was that Carr simply didn’t look as sharp as expected in this particular outing. He missed a few routine throws and had a tipped pass intercepted.
However, Carr did manage to bounce back in the second period, finding a better rhythm and leading a productive scoring drive. During that sequence, he went a perfect 4-for-4, including a crucial fourth-and-2 conversion to Jordan Faison and a well-placed 20-yard “hole shot” connection to Mylan Graham. That drive ultimately set up a touchdown run and helped his Blue team’s offense build momentum before it eventually won the game 41-40 on a walk-off 43-yard field goal.
Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock wasn’t too happy with the offense, which picked up only one first down through its first two possessions. Denbrock wasn’t even happy with Carr’s showing.
“CJ Carr is in a position now where he can steer the ship,” Denbrock said following the game. “Sometimes he steers it in a ditch, and sometimes he steers it on the straight and narrow. We’re still working through all that. We’ve got a comfort level there.
“But he’s done an incredible job of taking command not only from a leadership standpoint but making sure if we get a look that it’s a little frustrating for the play that we got called getting us into something a little bit better that gives our guys a better opportunity to be successful and when you have that you got a chance to stay ahead of the change and have a really positive offensive you know series or game or whatever it happens to be.”
Carr finished last season with an 85.9 score in the PFSN College Football QB Impact Metric. He remains the starter for Notre Dame’s QB room, which also features Blake Hebert and Noah Grubbs.
