Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman has named freshman CJ Carr as the starting quarterback for Sunday’s season opener against Miami. Carr will make his first career start after appearing in just one game in the 2024 season without recording any statistics, but Freeman has full confidence in his QB1."He's as intelligent of a football player you'll be around. Works extremely hard in his preparation. He is a guy that just studies the game endlessly to find a way to improve. He's a guy that's very confident. At some points you may be a little bit overconfident, but you want that in your quarterback."You want the quarterback to say I want the ball in my hands every play when the game is on the line. He has a lot of those intangibles outside of the physical skill set that many people see that you want your quarterback to have."Miami returns four starters on the offensive line and has strong depth on defense, highlighted by defensive ends Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. It will be a tough game, but Freeman wants Carr to focus on the fundamentals.“I don't (want) to put a numerical expectation on him," Freeman said (via On3). "Be the best version of CJ Carr. Make those guys around you better. Be that guy. And at the end of the day, just win this play. Not the last one, just win this one right in front of us.”Marcus Freeman reflects on tough QB decision ahead of Week 1Marcus Freeman faced a challenging decision when naming the starter for Week 1 against Miami. Toward the end of camp, CJ Carr pulled ahead of redshirt sophomore Kenny Minchey to earn the starting role.However, Minchey pushed him hard throughout the three-week camp competition, which made Freeman’s choice anything but easy.“I hesitate saying this is why I made [the] decision because what I don’t want to do is look positive for one guy and a negative for another,” Freeman said on Tuesday (via On3). “Statistically, it’s close to any quarterback competition I’ve ever been a part of, and it wasn’t clear."They were both really good statistically, and I just had to make a difficult decision, and I had to trust my gut a little bit. What I felt like we needed going into Week 1 versus the opponent. Who will be able to handle that decision the right way? I think all those things played into my decision.”Carr is the grandson of former Michigan national champion coach Lloyd Carr.