Freeman confident in QB CJ Carr’s future despite Notre Dame’s season-opening loss to Miami

MIAMI GARDENS Fla AP There were a couple things going through Marcus Freeman s head when he saw CJ Carr scampering around to extend the play then finding receiver Micah Gilbert in the end zone for the quarterback s first collegiate touchdown Throw it away Throw it away Throw it away Freeman Notre Dame s head coach recalled repeating in his head after the meeting I couldn t see exactly what was going on I watched him spin out And usually when you re feeling pressure it s like Throw the ball the away Don t throw the ball across our body He kept his eyes down field and made a play We don t draw them up like that But those are plays that CJ Carr can make Carr had an uneven performance in No Notre Dame s - loss to No Miami on Sunday night but that touchdown pass which tied it at in the second quarter was an example of the playmaking ability that won the freshman quarterback the starting job And that gave Freeman confidence in Carr s ability to respond strongly to Sunday s loss and potentially lead Notre Dame back to the national title competition Carr hadn t thrown a collegiate pass before Sunday he appeared in one championship last year mop-up duty in a - rout at Purdue but nearly helped the Fighting Irish rally from a -point deficit against the Hurricanes The -year-old finished of for yards with two touchdown passes and an interception along with a rushing points with left that tied the meeting His ceiling is so high Freeman reported He s going to have to take this loss and not let it eat at him too much He s a gamer He performs when the lights are on He prepares his tail off He s going to do great things It s just the start for him Freeman declared part of the offensive gameplan was to create easy decisions and throws to help Carr establish a rhythm heavily leaning on the run-pass option Freeman added that Carr was making the right reads on the RPOs early but as the match went on the young quarterback needed to hand the ball to dynamic running back Jeremiyah Love to help establish the run battle Love who a large number of believe will be the centerpiece to Notre Dame s offense finished with carries for yards and caught four passes for yards but there were times in the encounter that he was barely involved in the offense The Fighting Irish were outgained on the ground - I need to continue to get a better feel for what our offense demands at the moment Carr stated A lot of the time it s going to be Jeremiyah Love On the pick I should have just given him the ball It cost us Carr this year replaces former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard who led the Irish to straight wins last season before falling - to Ohio State in the CFP national championship challenge Leonard was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in April He s from a family with a rich football pedigree his father Jason was a quarterback at Michigan and he knows how to respond to a loss Tonight wasn t good enough out of me specifically Carr noted We ve got to get better My dad dependably declared the only way to get rid of a loss is with a win Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top throughout the season Sign up here AP college football https apnews com hub ap-top- -college-football-poll and https apnews com hub college-football Source