CJ Carr’s name is being thrown around by everyone as a superstar in the making.

Even Carr’s position coach wouldn’t put a cap on CJ’s potential.

“I think CJ is going to have a chance to become one of the best quarterbacks to ever come through the University of Notre Dame,” Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli says.

Many on the national stage are calling Carr a potential #1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. Some oddsmakers are even labeling him as an early favorite to win the Heisman Trophy next season.

“You don’t really feel it as pressure,” Carr said when asked about the early national recognition he’s receiving. “I’m not on a bunch of social medias or any of that. This whole team is so focused on how can we have a great Friday practice. How can we have a great weekend. Just stack practices. How can we have a great spring. The focus is on this year and one day at a time and we’re going to be really good.”

This 2026 spring practice is totally different for Carr than that of 2025. A year ago, he was in a 3-way battle with Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey. This year, he’s the unquestioned #1 coming off starting for a full season.

Carr says they went back and watched spring practice and fall camp from last year during this last off season.

“”It feels different—night and day,” Carr explains. “I feel a lot more confident, consistent out there. The experience of a game and these practices have helped and are going to help going forward.”

While being in competition has its benefits, Carr put a lot of extra pressure on himself last year to be perfect. Being the unquestioned #1 is what makes this spring feel different and gives him an opportunity to grow even more.

“It gives me some more freedom to play around with different drops, different throws that I can make,” Carr says. “It’s another thing that is going to help me evaluate personally and this offense too.”

Guidugli is also pushing him to grow even more as a leader.

“Last year you were coming in, it’s your first year starting, you are just trying to earn your spurs,” Guidugli says. “You just won a quarterback job. You are kind of concerned with what goes on through your straw of the world. Everyone kind of sees it threw a straw. Now he’s kind of earned that with his play. This spring, we expect him to be a leader of this football team. My expectation would be to be a captain of this football team. Just to continue to grow in that way. The way he played last fall will be good enough. He doesn’t have to go out and be exponentially better for us to go accomplish what we need to do.”

Carr says leadership has been the message he’s been hearing from Guidugli all off season.

“How can we bring these young guys along—how can we get this offense well oiled and running right,” Carr said of the message from Guidugli. “If something needs to be said, say it because this is your offense.”

Another way Carr is leading is in the quarterback room by bringing along fellow QBs Noah Grubbs and Blake Hebert.

“CJ is a great dude,” Hebert says. “I think the biggest thing is that when he does make a mistake, he will still be smiling all day. He doesn’t let practice affect his day. Not to say he doesn’t correct his mistakes and get on that but he takes it for what it is and I really admire that and I’m working on that for myself.”

Guidugli says CJ is a great example for Hebert and Grubbs to see how to do it and how to go out and be successful every day and in games.

And make no mistake, Carr is not a finished product himself. He’s still improving. Carr points to his decision making in the red zone as a great example of an area that he’s striving to get better at. Carr says as they looked back at last year, they were really efficient is base downs, 3^rd downs.

“There wasn’t a glaring thing that was like, ‘ok this needs to be fixed’ except for some of those decisions that end up with a turnover and if we can eliminate that and put a few more balls in the end zone, the results are going to be a lot different,” Carr says.

He says the process will remain the same thanks to Coach Guidugli but hopefully the results of what they are doing continues to elevate.

“You don’t have to push CJ; CJ is going to push himself,” Guidugli says. “For me it’s more guardrails. What to do and when to do it. I think he understands he doesn’t have to be perfect. He’s going to have to continue to challenge himself. There’s still a whole lot of room to get better.”

And if Carr does make the strides expected, maybe that Heisman talk, the #1 draft pick talk and that deep playoff run talk will come to be.