Notre Dame football took its first loss of the season, falling to BYU the last time it was on the field. CJ Carr had a chance to lead the Irish to a win, but a final pass to Jaden Greathouse from the BYU eight-yard line fell incomplete, and Notre Dame lost 28-24. Fans were not happy with how Carr responded after the Notre Dame loss, but his coaching staff supported him.
Now, another former Notre Dame quarterback is praising Carr. Riley Leonard spoke with head coach Marcus Freeman this week, and the conversation turned to the current quarterback's leadership, per Mike Berardino of the South Bend Tribune.
“The thing with CJ with me, people would reach out and be like, ‘ Hey, what advice would you give CJ?' And you know, that was from the start, right? Since he got here,” Leonard said. “For whatever reason, there's something about CJ. I always felt like he didn't need it. I don't know what it is about him, and I don't know if that's right or wrong of me to think, but I always felt like he knew the answers. And he's going to know the answers on how to respond this week. Hopefully I showed him a good example of how I responded after losing from NIU. Y'all got a general back there.”
Carr got to see Leonard respond to a major loss. He redshirtted in 2024, the lone year with Leonard as the quarterback. After beating a 20th-ranked Texas A&M on the road to open the season, Notre Dame was ranked fifth in the nation. They lost at home the next week, 16-14, to Northern Illinois. Leonard struggled in the game, passing for just 163 yards with two interceptions. He responded well, though.
Article Continues BelowNotre Dame went on a run from there. They won the rest of their regular-season games before knocking off Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State in the playoffs. Leonard threw just six interceptions the rest of the way, while tossing 21 touchdown passes. Notre Dame would lose in the national championship to Ohio State, 34-23.
Notre Dame and Carr will look to rebound this week against Navy before hosting Miami the following week.