The CJ Carr hype train has been nothing short of a thrill ride this spring. The Notre Dame quarterback launched 2026 with rave reviews from almost everyone. But over the past month, a few analysts have started nitpicking his game. Still, an anonymous assistant coach just delivered a review that every quarterback dreams of: Carr is even better than the NFL Draft's No. 1 pick.
“I would imagine that they take the cuffs off [quarterback CJ Carr] a little more. I thought he was very good last year, but I also thought that they asked little of him. Create isolation routes, get the ball to the right guy. Indiana didthe same thing — ran the ball, created one-on-ones and took advantage of them.”
All of that aligns with analysts' previous comments about the Notre Dame quarterback, especially regarding the limited demands placed on him. What follows, however, should excite Irish fans even more.
“And [Carr] is more talented than Fernando Mendoza. That’s saying a lot.”
One assistant coach told Athlon that Notre Dame's CJ Carr is more talented than Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/Rlg9Q40IvJ
— Oliver VanDervoort (@itmeolliev) May 28, 2026
CJ Carr gives Notre Dame football a chance to make the Fernando Mendoza comparison look real
This quote surfaced because it was in the print version of the 2026 Athlon Sports College Football Preview. Because of that, it hasn’t surfaced until very recently. Now that it’s here, it’s hard to say whether it’s more an endorsement of Carr or a slight of Mendoza.
There has been plenty of talk, even before the draft, that while Mendoza is certainly a good game manager and has some innate talent, his eye-popping numbers were more those of a system quarterback than of someone who could take any team to the national title.
It’s hard to forget the campaign ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky waged in favor of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson against Mendoza. Orlovsky claimed that Mendoza wasn’t all that good and wouldn’t hear any argument to the contrary. It now appears that at least a few coaches in the college football ranks agree with Orlovsky.
It’s rather remarkable that anyone is challenging the talent level of Mendoza, who completed 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns, and just 6 interceptions. The idea that those numbers were all because he played for Indiana is at least somewhat disproven by what he did the year before at Cal.
In 2024, Mendoza completed 68% of his passes for 3,004 yards, 16 touchdowns, and just 6 interceptions. While his TDs were nowhere near what he did at Indiana in 2025, it’s clear he was very much the same quarterback otherwise.
Carr, in comparison, completed 66% of his passes for 2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns, and just 6 interceptions. He did all that in his first season as a starter for Notre Dame. He obviously had help from a running game led by Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, but he also showed great arm strength and a natural ability to make plays.
If there’s one big weakness of Carr’s, it's that there are times he needs to get rid of the ball, rather than play hero. Should he iron out that part of his game, he could be in for a massive 2026 season.
Notre Dame certainly hopes this nameless assistant coach is right about how much talent CJ Carr has heading into his second campaign leading the Irish offense.
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