CJ Carr leads a loaded quarterback room. Dive into Notre Dame's post-spring depth chart and see who's poised to back up the star passer.
Notre Dame wrapped up its 2026 spring and head's into the offseason. Expectations are sky high with the Fighting Irish, and the return of quarterback CJ Carr is a big reason. With the spring now behind us it's time to dive into the projected depth chart for Notre Dame, and we'll begin with the quarterback position.
Here's the post-spring depth chart for the Notre Dame quarterback room.
RETURNING PRODUCTION
CJ Carr - 2,741 passing yards, 66.6% completion, 24 TD, 6 INT, 168.06 rating, 9.4 YPA, 3 rushing TD
THE STARTER
For the first time since 2020, Notre Dame goes into a season with a returning starter at quarterback. Carr had an outstanding first season in the lineup, setting a Notre Dame record for passer rating and ranking in the top five nationally in yards per attempt, and eighth in yards per completion. He was also named a second team Freshman All-American last season.
He is ranked as the top returning quarterback in the country by ESPN, and while there is certainly room for improvement from his rookie season, there is no doubt that Carr is expected to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country. For Notre Dame to be the team Irish fans expect them to be, Carr will need to take another jump and go from being an outstanding player for a redshirt freshman, to just being outstanding, period.
DEPTH BATTLES
Redshirt freshman Blake Hebert and freshman Noah Grubbs spent all spring battling for the backup job. Grubbs had a strong performance, showing aggressiveness as a passer and the arm talent to make all the throws needed to thrive in this offense. As expected, he also had plenty of true freshman moments where he showed he still has a long way to go. Grubbs showed the ability to bounce back from mistakes, which is important. Grubbs made up a ton of ground on Hebert and goes into the summer with a legitimate opportunity to win the backup job.
Hebert was very inconsistent early on and battled a minor lower body injury that kept him out of a few practices, including the Jersey Scrimmage. But he got better throughout the spring and finished with a strong performance in the Blue-Gold Game. Hebert has a big arm and he's an athletic player that can make plays with his legs, including designed runs. He will need to be a more consistent player both from a decision making standpoint and technical standpoint if he's going to win the backup job.
Both quarterbacks have a lot of work to do, but what both showed this spring is that they have the physical tools to one day win the starting job at Notre Dame. There's uncertainty in regard to who steps up, but after watching both this spring I have no doubt about whether or not the talent exists in the room to thrive should their number be called.
NEWCOMER
Another talented player will get thrown into the mix this summer when freshman Teddy Jarrard arrives after reclassifying to the 2026 class. Jarrard was a Top 100 recruit in the 2027 class before reclassifying and there's plenty of excitement about his game. Jarrard has loads of arm talent and he's a quality athlete. He'll need to pick things up in a hurry, but the tools are there to battle for the No. 2 job.
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