College Football's Top 25 Most Important Players in 2026: No. 13 QB CJ Carr, Notre Dame

The Manning Passing Academy hands out no official awards, so Todd McShay handed out his own. Asked on his podcast to name the top performer from the late-June camp in Thibodaux, Louisiana, a field that included Arch Manning and Julian Sayin, the longtime NFL draft analyst picked the quarterback from South Bend.

"CJ Carr, Notre Dame. Wasn't even close," McShay said, comparing Carr's repeatable mechanics to Tom Brady and Drew Brees and noting that Peyton and Eli Manning used the Irish starter to demonstrate drills for the rest of the camp.

That weekend in Louisiana captured what Carr is hoping to carry over into this new season. Notre Dame carries its highest preseason expectations since 2006, and the national championship aspirations rest on a 6-foot-3, 215-lb. redshirt sophomore with 12 career starts.

Few players in the country have more riding in their second season.

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No. 13: CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Carr won the job over Kenny Minchey in the final two weeks of fall camp last August, then lost one-score games in his first two starts, at Miami and against Texas A&M. He and the Irish answered with 10 consecutive wins, each by double digits, a closing run no Notre Dame team had produced since 1966. That year should ring a bell for ND fans.

The Saline, Michigan native finished 195-of-293 for 2,741 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. His 9.4 yards per attempt tied for second nationally, his 168.06 passer rating ranked fifth in the country and broke the program record, and the offense around him set modern school marks with 42.0 points per game and 7.3 yards per play.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr — Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr (13) will have to carry more of the Irish offense after the departures of star running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to the NFL. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

None of it produced a playoff berth. The selection committee gave the final at-large spot to Miami on the strength of the head-to-head result, and the Fighting Irish opted out of the Pop-Tarts Bowl rather than play a consolation game. Carr addressed the revenge framing on the Triple Option podcast this offseason and rejected it.

"It's the year of Notre Dame, we're worried about ourselves," Carr said.

Notre Dame's championship case runs through Carr

The roster Carr commands in 2026 looks different everywhere except quarterback. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price took the entire starting backfield to the NFL, which pushes the identity of Mike Denbrock's offense away from its record-setting run game and onto its passer.

Carr is the first returning Notre Dame starting quarterback since 2020, and Denbrock is back for a third year calling plays for him.

The supporting cast is talented but unproven together. Ohio State transfers Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter join Jordan Faison and a healthy Jaden Greathouse at receiver, while the projected offensive line features Will Black, Anthonie Knapp, Ashton Craig, Charles Jagusah and Guerby Lambert. How quickly those pieces cohere around Carr will decide whether the offense sustains last season's scoring pace without a generational backfield.

Evaluators have already priced in the leap. Sporting News' Bill Bender ranked Carr the No. 3 quarterback in the country, and ESPN's David Hale placed him among the top four of all 138 FBS starters. Quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli pointed to the habits underneath the tape.

"You're never going to question the guy's preparation," Guidugli said.

The grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr gets the rematch that defined his first season on his own field this time. Miami visits South Bend on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET, the first night meeting between the programs at Notre Dame Stadium since 1984 and the Hurricanes' first trip there since 2016.

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