Obviously, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and CJ Carr have a special relationship

Oct 18, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates with quarterback CJ Carr (13) in the first half against the Southern California Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Ever since Marcus Freeman took over at Notre Dame, there has been a lot of new ground broken. Other than the aura of winning a national championship, the Irish are one of the elite programs again — and life is mostly good. Some of the proof is that the Irish are a consensus top two in odds to win the national championship, and quarterback CJ Carr is one of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy.

But why are things so different? Why have things changed so drastically under Marcus Freeman? Brian Kelly won a lot of games at Notre Dame, and he also played for a national championship game in his third season as the head coach. Why are we so much more enamored with Freeman s opposed to Brian Kelly at this point in their careers?

A good personality goes a long way anywhere, but maybe as the head coach of the Notre Dame Football team it does much more than that. With Coach Freeman, his interactions with his players look and sound genuine. He appears to have mastered the ability to be a both Commander in Chief and the guy in the foxhole with you. It’s an incredibly hard thing to do, and even if a coach does do it — it doesn’t guarantee success.

One of the biggest tells to prove that a coach has that dual ability is his relationship with his quarterback. The relationship between Marcus Freeman and CJ Carr looks and sounds like something out of a movie — or at least a weeknight drama on NBC (they still do those— right?).

That relationship is made stronger by Carr’s mother, and they shared a couple of interesting notes about Tammy Carr on Bussin’ With the Boys.

It’s funny how they made it first sound like she was more like a fan that would be enamored with Freeman and Notre Dame — but then pull out the story about her wrath when things went wrong in practice and CJ ended up really banged up.

But that’s family. Only family is able to weave in and out of those moment of pure trust and love with pure anger and skepticism — and back again.

Family is also a cabal of trash talkers, “liars”, and a battlefield of competition. The simple game of whiffle ball has long been something that brings out the best between friends and family, as my two sons would gladly confess under oath.

You just get that there is a sense of absolute trust between these two men, that extends out onto the football field. This only makes Notre Dame that much more dangerous for the 2026 season and postseason. There’s a bond here between Carr and Freeman that’s something special, and it’s the easiest thing to notice as they interact.

I mean — you just can’t call anyone a liar right to their face and get away with it… but that’s fam.