In the spring of 1968, just after Lloyd Carr had graduated from Northern Michigan University, his mother handed him a card with two things inside: a $20 bill and part of a poem she’d written — an inscription he can still recite from memory nearly 60 years later.“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” she wrote, borrowing from Rudyard Kipling’s “If.” “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting, too. Then you’ll be a man, my son.”Rule No. 1 about being a quarterback: Mental toughness is not optional. CJ Carr, Lloyd’s grandson and Notre Dame’s junior signal caller, has it in spades. And it’s just one of the reasons he could be a first-round NFL Draft pick as early as next spring.Why Notre Dame is the staff's prediction to win the national titleDavid UbbenCJ Carr grew up in a football family. His father, Jason, played for Lloyd (also a college QB) and Gary Moeller at Michigan. His other grandfather, College Football Hall of Famer Tom Curtis, is still Michigan’s all-time interceptions leader. After the family tragically lost CJ’s younger brother, Chad, to an inoperable brain tumor in 2014, his mother, Tammi, and father built a charitable research foundation — “ChadTough” — that is now globally renowned for its quest to cure Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma.No one is born without fear. But Carr, who turned 21 in May, has mastered the art of walking through his.As Notre Dame moves into a world without running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, Carr could be poised for a gigantic season. Let’s break down what areas he needs to improve upon and why he could be a special prospect …What makes Carr an exciting prospectWhen people speak about a player’s “feel” for a position, they’re describing the ease at which he takes to the hardest tasks. A quarterback with a natural feel is one who — among other things — knows how to process, can play on time with his feet, can feel and evade pressure, is confident over the middle and understands how to create wins before the snap.As a redshirt freshman starter last season, Carr’s consistency with all these traits ebbed and flowed. Make no mistake, however: He owns all of them, and more. Some kids, like Carr (and his younger brother, Tommy, currently Michigan’s backup and an underrated prospect), are just born to be quarterbacks.The first thing you notice about Carr’s 2025 season is how quickly he improved week to week. Notre Dame protected him with quick stuff in the opener against Miami’s extremely talented defense, but you could see better footwork as early as Week 2 against Texas A&M. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and QBs coach Gino Guidugli did a great job of slowly putting more on his plate as time wore on, too.One thing Notre Dame did from time to time was install a particular shot in practice and let Carr run it early in the game. Against Purdue, it was the first play Notre Dame ran offensively.CJ Carr vs. PurdueNick BaumgardnerThe Irish are working the big backside post here off play action, and Carr runs it like he’d repped it 50 times the previous week — because he probably had.At no point last season did Carr look overwhelmed by the magnitude of his job or panicked by something going on in a game. He was also wise beyond his age when it came to reading coverage and structures pre-snap.Another simple one against Purdue here:CJ Carr vs. Purdue, clip No. 2Nick BaumgardnerNotre Dame is running an outside comeback to the boundary and a 10-yard out to the field. Based on the defensive alignment pre-snap — two deep safeties and an off-coverage field corner playing heads-up — Carr’s best move is to just make his drop and immediately rip the out. No matter what Purdue does with its coverage (and it does morph), that out will be open.That’s exactly what we see. Quarterbacks never go broke taking a profit, and when you can find one before you touch the ball, you hit it. We also see a bit of Carr’s anticipatory ability here as he hits the out in stride and allows for solid yards after the catch.This next one is a QB coach’s dream. NC State lines up in a single-high look with three linebackers pretty close to the line of scrimmage. Watch what happens to the linebacker on Carr’s right when he gives his first hand clap.CJ Carr vs. NC StateNick BaumgardnerWe see a flinch, which likely means he’s blitzing. We also see the slot corner and the field corner playing off and bailing, which probably means they don’t have help.Carr spots all of this in real time and immediately adjusts the play. He widens out the formation and attacks a gigantic patch of open grass. Once again, Carr delivers this football on the receiver’s break. If he’s too late, the receiver’s momentum will carry him out of bounds; if he’s too early, he’ll probably miss. But he’s on time, and the receiver has all kinds of room to create extra yards.All of this happens because a young QB read the defense and made an adjustment. That’s not normal for most college starters, let alone players Carr’s age.Areas of potential growthCarr is a good athlete, but he’s probably not an elite one. He’s a decent-sized quarterback, but he’s not big. He has above-average but not elite arm talent. So, some physical limitations could limit Carr’s potential as an NFL starter over the long haul.To begin with, he has to be more careful with the hits he takes and some of the more aimless scrambles he winds up attempting. As good as Carr is at reading defenses pre-snap, he can still get stuck in route progressions or get crossed up and have to improvise. As a first-year college starter last season, Carr still showed too many habits he’d gotten away with in high school, like bailing on a concept early and trying to outrun everyone to the corner or trying to re-route receivers on the move.As great as he was in the NC State game, for example, he also had a pretty bad pick in the end zone on a YOLO throw when he trusted his arm more than he should have against heavy coverage.Another area Carr needs work on is his mechanical consistency and how it affects his accuracy. Carr has a tendency to get jittery with his feet or body after a throw. He’ll fade away instead of holding a follow-through or shuffle his feet as he throws.Jeremiyah Love TD catchNick BaumgardnerWhen he maintains a stable throwing motion and keeps his feet grounded, he throws a really pretty ball. When his leg swings or he does the Steph Curry fallaway (as we see above), the ball sprays. If that’s not Love on the receiving end, it’s probably a missed opportunity instead of a touchdown.Bottom lineCarr is in a fascinating spot right now, albeit a pretty enviable one.If he markedly improves on what was a very impressive 2025 season (2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns, six interceptions, 66.6 completion rate), he’ll have first-round buzz for the 2027 NFL Draft. But, not unlike Arch Manning or Dante Moore, there’s zero reason for him to rush anything.By all accounts, Carr — who’s studying philosophy at Notre Dame — is enjoying life as the starting quarterback at one of America’s most NIL-rich programs. I could see him putting together a very good season and still opting to play another year with the Irish, as we saw with Moore at Oregon.Long term, as a prospect, Carr most reminds me of a more athletic Bo Nix, both with his ability to absorb and process information quickly, and the pace at which it allows him to play.He’ll get his 2026 season underway Sunday night against Wisconsin. We’ll see then if he can build on the progress he made last season.