Top NCAA QBs; CJ Carr on Notre Dame confidence

0:00Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans, it's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fanta in 60 airs Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. Yo, yo, yo, what's up? It's Chris Sims. This Christmas on button kind of Rogers is here. Have no fear. It's Friday. It's 11 a.m. It's live. It's NBC YouTube page. We got a different show for us today. It's right for all of you, not for us. It's different a little for us too. I'm a little more college football centric here Friday before Labor Day weekend. It is week one of the college football season. I know you're all over college football.

1:01You've already started watching guys for next year's draft, which you're becoming a psycho in a good way. Just so you know, quarterback class, you're going to like it. I I I I like I am just the few I've seen even to this point and what I've had to study for our our Saturday obligations. I've been impressed. So yeah, that's what I think we'll do today. Let's break some of that stuff down. We got to interview with CJ Carr. We're going to show here in a few minutes. I'm pumped about CJ Carr and what he could do this year. You just you said you watched him recently on film. He's my preseason QB two. Okay. Yeah. Okay. And there and there's a cluster. Yeah. The three cluster together were arch him and Dante more. Not surprises there. Yeah. But I thought he was that impressive last year as a pocket passer. I think so too. And then you know, it's I'm with you. I thought at the end of the year last year, Notre Dame and probably had the best off on some college football. They were scary. That's why I was a little surprised. They didn't get in. We know they're missing those two running backs that should are in price and Jeremiah. Love that's going to be a lot to get over. So wait. So preseason QB one and you went preseason. QB number or he was number two. He was two number one was arch arch.

2:01You went arch. Okay. Now I think I don't think arch is the show. Burrow Andrew Luck Trevor Lawrence level prospector. He can play himself there this year. That's right. That's so much talent. Right. I thought it was a good group though that can really continue to develop between him. Car Dante more. There's a couple other guys like Drew Mestemaker now. Yeah. For a state. Sure. We have a lot of talent in the big 10. Obviously, Jayden Mayaba at USC. They already got to play again. Exactly. For San Jose State. Yeah. It's a really strong quarterback class. A lot of them play in the big 10 as well, which were really lucky. That's where how our Saturdays are spent. It's awesome. I can't wait to see your conversation with CJ Carr, especially at that Notre Dame facility. Yeah. Which these facilities around college football are unbelievable right now. They are unbelievable. And here's the day I have just so it's even crazier. So I'm excited to go to Notre Dame anytime because it's a cathedral of football, college football. CJ Carr, I was pumped to meet him. I was recruited by his grandfather and Lloyd Carr, the old coach of Michigan. Yeah. Right. And I told you, I mean, he was in my family room and I can still remember him.

3:03You know, Drew Henson was above me the year before. It was the number one player in the country. I was the number one player this year. But everybody was speculating if Drew Henson, who had played as a freshman at Michigan, supplanted Tom Brady and took a rep playing time. But everyone thought, oh, he's going to go play for the Yankees and go to all the baseball. So Lloyd Carr, I remember coming home from school and sitting on the couch and him being like, gross, I'm telling you, he's going to go play baseball. And just like that, and I can see it to this day, I loved Lloyd Carr. I wanted really to go to Michigan. It was just a dicey situation that I didn't trust. So it was cool to meet him, have fun with him and go through all that. But the day I'm there, I mean, I'm not only excited to see him. So I'm there and I'm hanging out. I'm going to take a pee. I'm in, I'm in going in the urinal. And I look and I'm like, what? Zach Martin, Zach Martin. I mean, going to be a hall of fame, all of them. So I got to hang out with him. We talk ball for a few minutes. I come out of the bathroom and I look up and I go, holy shit, it's Peyton Manning.

4:07And Peyton Manning was there because his son was at some camp that day. So I was like, no, I'm talking to CJ cars. Zach Martin was there. What a day it was. So it was a cool experience there at Notre Dame. That is freaking awesome. Yeah, and it's amazing. I mean, Michigan, they think they have their quarterback and we're going to talk about Michigan here in a second because that's our week one game Saturday night. Right. But it is fascinating that Lloyd Carr's grandson is now a star quarterback at Notre Dame. And I have fun. You'll hear that on the interview and I'm like, how do you end up there? And he's great about it. He's got a great story. Not only his dad played at Michigan too. So it's a long story of like, wow, you really buck the system here to go to Notre Dame. But he's got a great story that I'll explain that. You know, back to your college quarterback thing too, like Lenora Sellers. He's a guy who always loved the talent. He's got to be a little more polished playing quarterback. But where did you kind of see him in this whole conversation? He was QB6 for me. I actually thought the tape was better than I expected going in because the situation around him was so bad last year.

5:07The line was terrible. He still plays a little slow like that internal clock is like, he'll pass up throws that you know he can make. Something I hear from you all the time to run or chase a bigger play. And at some point as a quarterback, you got to take the throws that they're going to catch. It's going to catch some. Glad he went back to school. That was a really good decision. I hope he capitalizes on developing in that area. Big body gifted runner, power arm. I saw him and Soresby play very like very closely together. Now Soresby's not going to get to play this year. Sellers is going to get to kind of develop on the things that people had questions about. I like Trinidad Chamblest a lot. You're not alone. It's the profile quarterback that I've just like, I opt out on like small, older kind of a weird road to get there. But when you watch him play, it's hard not to like him as a day to kind of gamble because he's a gamer. He makes pro throws. There's so many different flavors in this class. That's what's cool. That's cool to hear. Trinidad Chamblest, I mean, I'm kind of with you.

6:09That's not my mold of a quarterback. Listen, I talk to some people in the NFL that I think there, as of right now, he's sitting there as a day one thought. Wow. It's that. And the arm is real. The athletic ability is really good. I always worry about it a little bit as it translates to the NFL because as you know, you got to be a special athlete to be able to run and scramble in the NFL. But yeah, that's cool to hear. So you had Arch one, which I can totally see. The way Arch finished the year was phenomenal. We just want to see more consistent, good throwing. Yeah, that's where he lost a little luster in my eyes last year. He misses short area passes that you just can't really understand. Exactly. He's not a slam dunk number one pick like people want you to believe. Exactly. But he was good enough to be the top quarterbacks. He, Jay Carto, don't say more right behind him at three. Got you. Drew Mestemaker at four. Okay. I got to check out. He's the old tools. All tools guy didn't start in high school. Yep. Was a safety and a punter. Huh. You know, ends up at at North Texas. Turns into kind of a star.

7:09Based on all these tools now he transfers up to Oklahoma States. So we'll get to kind of prove like Kenny handle bear bear competition. Trinidad at five. Yep. Lenora sellers at six. Mayava at seven. Julie and saying is the guy have it eight that I'm like, I don't know what he is from up. I think the lead is like that too. I want to see more right then soars be. And then the last one, this one might surprise you. Not last one, but the guy that round out the top 10 was actually demon Williams. The Washington quarterback who plays almost like a Kyler Murray clone. I got to run. Yeah. Makes all those plays. I know people like Darian Mensa, who's at Miami now. I just don't see a physically gifted quarterback more of a game managing. Okay. Cool. I got to check him out a little bit more. Oklahoma State kid I haven't checked out. But I mean, we're down in the line there. You know, Desmond King, Desmond Williams, excuse me. Yeah. You know, we had to rank the top five quarterbacks of the big 10. I've made them number five for some of the things you've talked about. But to the point of there are some damn good quarterbacks in the big 10. There are some damn good quarterbacks this year. You know, I'm still a fan of John Matier.

8:11I didn't even mention I know because his ability and he's got to play cleaner football. But his ability is up there at the top of the list. So we'll see with that my Ava. Again, you're just quarterback number seven. I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up going to the first round. Right. Putting in that seven. I get it. I know he plays the position like just being an actual quarterback better than most of these guys. Yes. It just feels like he's capped at some point because of he's not. He's not a premium athlete with a premium arm. I get you there. He's got a good arm. He can move a little bit. He's big. He's over 30 pounds. Yes. But he plays the position like such a pro. I does do that. And I with you and that I would like to see him put a little more umph on the ball at times. Yeah. Right. Because he's so big and he can throw it with pretty good power so easily and he controls it. But there are times where I go, no, that was time for the Wow throw. Like let it lose. Right. So there's that aspect. You know, I know we're going to talk CJ Carr just by wear it because we have Michigan western Michigan on Saturday night. We got Notre Dame Wisconsin live Lambo field Sunday night, which is going to be amazing

9:12looking on TV and everything there. You know, Bryce Underwood's an interesting conversation. I studied him a lot this week just because I know we're doing the game and he's one of those guys hired to crew did number one quarterback all of that. It's a big deal for them. But the question is, is he a quarterback who's an athlete or is he an athlete who's a quarterback? And right now it's more athlete who's quarterback and that's the things we got to see get kind of, you know, those finishing touches for him there. Really glad this are Saturday game because I don't know what to make of this Michigan team yet. They have a lot of NFL guys on defense at all three levels. The offense is underclassmen receivers. Uh huh. I know one of them was a big money kind of player. Another one was a transfer kind of player. They have some town on the line, but it's all good. It's going to be about underwood. I'm excited to also watch your breakdowns on the pregame because they are an interesting study of like, okay, now what can they grow into? Yeah. They're growing to something the way they've had to play offensive football the last few years. It's just too hard to think that you're just going to play the best teams in college football and then go, we can't really rely on the past game.

10:14That's just you're not going to get where you need to go. You're not unless you're so phenomenal at offensive line and running back and your defense is so good. But that's just so hard to always formulate that urine and year out. And that's what we'll see. We're going to have a pissed off. Sorry London Notre Dame football team. That's what I think we're all excited. I'm shocked to how many people are picking Notre Dame to win the national championship. I was going to pick them and then I feel like I've watched every college football show and stuff and I'm going, man, everybody picking Notre Dame. But we know their defense is going to be talented. They're extremely well coached. They have an awesome offensive system and they can run the ball like we talk about power, creative run game. But yet they can drop back in the past game, get it in the spread and do some things there and dice you up that way. And that's where I think Notre Dame will be a power this year. They're schedules favorable. They're really their biggest test is Miami early November. So they have a chance here yet to be that national championship contender. And that's what I'm excited about. And hopefully everybody likes, you know, I'm going to talk with CJ Carr here.

11:15I've been working on preseason rankings. Just doing a top 50 because so many guys go back to school now and all of that in the top 26 for Notre Dame players. Wow. That level of NFL talent. Okay. I'd see Jay Carr in there. Yeah. I also had Leonard Moore, the corner corner. I think he's the second best draft eligible player. Sam Dahl, like talking like past or 10 right now. He's like top 15 right. The thing that people aren't ready for is Kingston, Villamu, also their linebacker. Okay. He was hurt last year. Super star. And then Tay Johnson, they have another safety with ball skills. Shocker. So I mean, you're looking and I didn't even talk about they have some edge rushers as well. They weren't in the top 50 like this is a Notre Notre Dame in Texas and shocking Miami. Yeah. So they're all NFL and you know what? And these are all the teams that are like, yeah, you want to go to NIL? Sure. We have never ending money and never ending alumni and Notre Dame's got it now to get we can pay you to come here and your mom and dad are telling you if you get an education in a Notre Dame. Oh my gosh.

12:16It's going to take you places. And then they're going, yeah, we're going to pay you. You're going to get the education. Oh, and we have like an alumni base. That's like Harvard or Yale. If you want a job in New York City and Wall Street or in Chicago, come on down because Notre Dame people are everywhere. And that's what's going on right now in Collegeville ball. And as I said last week in the pregame show, that's why the SEC is sending Nick Saban and then other lobbyists up to the White House to change the rules back to the way they were. Oh, that's right. Collegeville was the wildest. It's a wild best right now. So it's going to be a great weekend. Of course, catch us. Saturday. I mean, there's tons of college football for us. But Saturday, I know we'll have pregame at 7 p.m. for the Michigan game. Sunday, there's a ton of games. The big one is Notre Dame, Wisconsin at Lambo Field. Might have a show before that. We'll see where that goes as well. After this break, you are going to hear the interview that Chris had with CJ Carr at Notre Dame. As for us, we will be back live next Tuesday, 11 a.m. Eastern. That starts our run of being live at 11 a.m. Every single weekday during the football season. Have a great Labor Day, everyone. Peace out.

13:17Welcome, everyone, to Fanta in 60, a brand new show with me, John Fanta, and my co-host, Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines by real moments. And most importantly, we'll hear directly from you, the fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. 1060 airs, Mondays at 6 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. Yo, yo, yo, what's up? It's Chris Sims. Chris Sims on button. I'm here with CJ Carr, quarterback in Notre Dame. All right. And we're going to hit it all the day. All right. So you're going to have like, I'm really going to put you through it. First I got to tell you this story. When I was in high school, all right, I was the number one quarterback coming out. I had this coach that came into my family room and talked like this, right?

14:18And it was, of course, your grandfather, right? So I just figured like void car, right? I Michigan was always a dream for me growing up. And to have your grandfather come in him. And I don't know if you'll know the name off the coordinator Stan Powersh at the time. Yep. Who oddly enough, ended up being my first quarterback coach when I got drafted by the Buckeneers. Wow. Right? But I just wanted to tell you that because I had so much respect for your grandfather, the way he recruited me. And it's one of those things where I went to Texas. And I'm always still like, I don't know, maybe I should have took that void car Michigan fork in the road. I'm not sure if I made the right decision. That's all I think about it to this day. So I do appreciate you hanging out with us. Absolutely. Thank you. So for you, you're a youngster, all right? I'm 45 and you're a youngster. I was in the NFL when you were born. But like earliest football memories start there, right? Yeah. You personally, like as a kid, like what age should we start playing football? Growing up, I was always throwing the ball around in the backyard doing that sort of things. But my parents were not going to let me play any tackle football until I hit seventh grade.

15:24So it was the earliest memories we were throwing in the backyard of my dad and then a bunch of flag football throughout my hometown in Selene. And then probably one of my favorite memories playing football growing up was the local league. Probably got a little bit, it wasn't as competitive as some of the other leagues we could have gone to. So we put together a really good Selene team and we went to Detroit and some other places to play some competitive football. And I remember everyone was in a different NFL team. So I think we were the Eagles or something like that. We heard the Panthers were the best team in the state as we're, I mean, we're 10 years old. So you know, state is crazy. But we heard the Panthers were the best team in the state. They would go to these national tournaments in Florida and we're like buzzing here in this. And we go to play them, you know, week one and they smack us. They beat us up pretty good. My dad coach footballed so he had a group of other guys who coached football. I'm a Brent Baldwin. Shout out to Baldwin's.

16:24We're good, you know, good coaching, good players too. And so we went throughout that whole season and we just kept getting better and better and better. So we ended up beating the Panthers one of the times and they came back, played them again. They beat us in the playoffs, but those flag football memories with some of my closest basketball buddies were the first real memories I had growing up. OK, all right. So that was your first person. How about you as like a fan or big time football? What was like the first college football gamer NFL game you went to? Yeah, I always grew up in Michigan fan. So we were always in my grandpa obviously has the connections there. So we grew up going to Michigan football games with my dad. We're kind of a homie family too. So we weren't out of ton of games, but we love just sitting on the couch on Saturdays and watching football and Sunday nights watching the NFL. Right, right. Yeah, grew up Michigan fan and just a lover of sports like my whole family. All right, so here you hold the ball because you're at the quarterback.

17:24How about when was it that you, what age was it when you realized like, man, I could throw the football a little bit and you started to hear a little buzz like, hey, look at CJ Carter. Yeah, Carter's grandpa. He's a grandson. He can really throw it. When was that? I remember in seventh grade, we'd split up our middle school team. So there was two seventh grade teams and at this point, there was, there was competitiveness between the two seventh grade teams is OK. We got the batter's quarterback running back to, well, we got the best quarterback receiver do of it. Right. And so at that point, you know, you don't know anything. You, I don't know if I can throw the football or not, but my dad kind of told me, you know, that year like, you know, the reason you're playing quarterback is not because of your grandpa or because I played quarterback. You're playing quarterback because you can throw it. Right. So know that and, and you know, if you work at it, you can do what you want in the sport and so just kind of grew from there. That's a good come to a moment, right? Because you don't really, you're right. I was the son of an NFL quarterback and I would be like, I don't know how good I am.

18:27People are kind of, and then one day he was like, my dad said, I'm like, hey, you throw the ball better than this NFL quarterback. And I was like, what? You know, I was in high school at that time, but it is a come to moment. All right. So growing up, what sports would we play other than football? My dad tried to get us in everything. We played baseball, basketball, football. We played tennis for a long time in there. We were always playing volleyball. The ping pong matches in the basement got competitive. So he tried to get us in all the sports that he could. And I think it's helped us. My brother and I kind of continue to elevate as not only football players, but athletes too. Yeah, right. The adjustment from flag football, the real football, do you remember that being a thing with as a young kid or did not even matter? Not really. I was just so excited to, I think the hardest adjustment was getting hit, like learning how to take a hit. Right. And a bunch of my buddies had played tackle football growing up. And so that first practice you're getting hit. Like, I don't like this. I don't like it. I don't want to go hit these people. You know, but you get used to it. And yeah, so those are probably my earliest memories.

19:29All right. So you go to Suleen High School. You go there. What year are you kind of becoming the starting quarter back there? My freshman year, I was the back up. And then my the starting quarterback got hurt going into the playoffs. So I got to start the playoff games and then going into my sophomore year. I split reps with the senior and he got hurt again, the third or fourth week. So I ended up taking over and starting the rest of my career. Okay. And so you go through that process. Now, like when you were in high school, did you, did you work with any quarterback coaches or anybody like that? Yeah, my dad, he was kind of the exes and those guys. I'd say he knows a lot of ball and just loves it. And that's probably probably my love for the game. Kind of really started and grew from there. He was kind of the guy I went to for exes, oh, and then he knew at a certain point, mechanically, he didn't know what mechanics have just changed so much over the last 20 years in football and throwing. And so he got us around the best guys in the sport.

20:30And for me, that was Will Hewlett down in Jacksonville, Florida. We got to go with him starting around eighth, ninth grade. And you know, we're trying to get out there as much as we could because, you know, he's the best again. You'd make a few playing trips every year to go down there and kind of get polished up a little bit. Yeah, it was always an emphasis to take three or four things in an off season from him and go and work on those throughout the season. And so it wasn't like we were there every week. Yeah, right. As long as we could hit him once or twice and just hammer down on the three things that, you know, you needed to work on. It was, it was big for improvement physically. Right. All right. So let me, let me see how you grip the football. I'm always interested in this. I'm, uh, the ring finger is one down. Yeah. I think he's two down. So you're two and under four, which is a very popular thing. What is that you two? No. Like so, like, I'm, I'm two, I'm two and five. Okay. Okay. And both hands are over. You know, both fingers are over. Yeah. Which like when I was growing up, everybody gripped two and four and with both hands on. How big are your hands? My hands are big, right? I mean, I have big hands. I mean, I was, I, but like you got big hands too.

21:32I have a flexible thumb. So I had like a 10 and a quarter. Yeah. That's huge. It is. It was big. Yeah. You're going to have no problem, but it's amazing how many guys do the under now. Yeah. Where that was not a thing when I was growing up. Dan Marino, John L. Waitroy, even no way, both were on it. The way those old guys throw it, it's like they're palm in the whole. A little bit like, just over, like overpowering. Yeah. It is interesting. Now there's only three quarter racks in football that put two fingers on the lace. My home's Baker Mayfield and bone X, which is three of the biggest arms in the game. So, yeah. Pretty good arms. You're right. All right. So, in high school, you're working with your quarterback coach. What were like just early on, some things that you learned that you were like, oh, wow, I throw the ball better when I do this. Yeah. I remember the first time I was with Will. I go in, I think I'm him and I'm really good at throwing footballs around. Right. I go out day one and he sees me throw three balls and he's like, oh, you're not using your

22:36hips at all. He's like, what do you mean? I throw it great. Exactly. Exactly. And so, that first session, I remember I'm sitting there pissed because he's having me do different mechanics. You know, I'm using my body in different ways to throw. I'm pissed for 30 minutes of the thing and then it hits about 40 minutes in there and I throw a ball and it just flies out of my hand. I've never thrown a football like that in my life. And so, I saw it and I was like, okay, maybe there's something here that I can really do. And then, you know, day two comes around and you're doing it a little more consistently. Right. And day three comes around and your arms tired, you can't throw and you're frustrated again. So, it was a bunch of the ups and downs and there still is. Sure. You know, that mental block of, you know, you're going to have really good days and you're going to have really bad days. Right. And the fact that you're fine in that middle ground is important and the floor where I've thrown the ball is much higher than it was, you know, those first few times.

23:38Go insane. Yeah, sure. I bet. You become more of a machine. No doubt. You know, and then you start to learn mechanics and go, wow, to throw the ball, that made it so easy. There's no doubt. You felt effortless and you start to believe in it, right? All right. So, now we're in high school. When did we start getting recruited by some schools? At a freshman year, right after that playoff game, Michigan offered me that day and Michigan State offered me that night. Freshman year, you've okay. And so that first offer, Michigan offers me and my dad doesn't tell me. He was trying to hide it from me because for whatever reasons he had. He went on your head getting too big yet. And then Michigan State offered me and he said, all right, I mean, I know this was only a day ago, but you got offered yesterday and Michigan State offered you today. So, he felt like he had to tell you after Michigan State. After two, he's like, yeah, we're good. Right. All right, so you go through that. That's freshman year. Now you're going through high school. You're obviously starting to become nationally ranked and everybody's starting to realize

24:38you there. Any other, like, what school started to kind of jump into your mind going, ooh, I like that school. I might think about that. For me, Michigan again was a huge school. I grew up loving Michigan. So they were always big school. But after Michigan State offered me and my dad said, we're going to have to go look around. I know we're a Michigan family. I know you really like Michigan, but you're not just going to go there because I did. You're not going to go there because you're going to go there because you're going to go here. This is going to be your process and you're going to go through it. So that offseason, he had me visit all the Midwest. We hit Wisconsin. We hit Penn State. We hit Michigan State Notre Dame, obviously. And throughout that visit, I really liked Jay Johnson at Michigan State, which is a shocker because I'm sitting there like, I didn't think I could like teams in green. I thought that was illegal for our family. But I really liked Michigan State and Jay Johnson.

25:39At the time, I Freeman wasn't here, but I really liked Tommy Reese here. I loved Paul Chris that was constant. And so just going through the process and meeting all these coaches and these new people, it kind of opened my horizons and said, Michigan's great. And I love them. But this is my dad going to Michigan. My grandpa coaching there isn't the reason I'm going to go to a school. And then it just kind of progressed there and visited Notre Dame probably six more times after that and fell in love with the place. And Freeman came in and it's a special place here. All right. So what happens in the family? I mean, I told you, I'm recruited by your grandfather, he's a legend. You got grandfather's on both sides who are in the College of Football Hall of Fame, everybody. And they went to Michigan. And when you tell everybody you're going to Notre Dame, what's like kind of the reaction from the family? To be honest with you, they full support. Yeah.

26:40There was no pressure. No pressure. No pressure. I'm very close with my cousins. And so we had them visit Notre Dame with me that week before and they even fell in love with the place. I remember my cousin Sydney saying, this place is amazing. This is a great place. I remember my cousin Sydney saying, this place is amazing. This is a great place. I remember my cousin Sydney saying, this place is amazing. This is awesome. So there was no pressure at all. And when my family heard, everyone was supportive and loved my decision. Yeah. All right. So you do that. You get here to Notre Dame. Freshment. You've read shirt a year. Second year, you're in a quarterback battle. How did that kind of play out? Tell me about the psyche of, you know, I dealt with my own quarterback battles in college. The NFL, all of that. Is that kind of like going through here in Notre Dame? Yeah, I wouldn't say it's the most fun thing I've done. Right. It's not an enjoyable thing. You love the game so much that when it's kind of up for stake and you look back and say,

27:40oh, like, if this goes the wrong way, you could, you know, you could be at a different place and not play into the game you love. Right. It's not a great feeling. And so you just got to kind of zone in on the day and take it one day at a time. And it worked out in the end how it should. And, you know, we're going to the second year really excited with the team that we have. And, you know, how we've grown from year one to year two to year three. It's been unbelievable. Yeah. And I'm going to get into all of that because I do want to pick your brain about that. So you remember the day they told you the starting quarterback? I do. I do. Coach Freeman actually sent me the clip because the follow doc, you know, has all those recordings in there. And so he sent me the clip the other day. The follow doc? Yeah, that's what we call it. It's the, what's the, here come the Irish. Here come the Irish. I got you. I got you. They're following the team around. Got you. There's cameras everywhere. So it's all on record. That's amazing. And you see that's what I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? I didn't have that when I was playing football.

28:41All right. So that's a special day. All right. So now you get, you're getting prepared. Let's talk a little bit last year. Last year. Talk about early season. You start out with Miami in Texas day and end. You had some bumpy moments. You had some great moments too. But, you know, what was that like, that experience and like just, you know, think about where you were mentally then? Yeah. What was it like? Going into Miami, there was all sorts of emotions. There was nervousness. There was excitement. You know, I remember pregame just not being able to eat anything. Just so excited. Yeah. And then you play that game and it doesn't go the way you want, which stinks. But you have the first start under your belt, right? And you're really excited. You got a big game against A&M to coming up. And were you aware of how good Miami's defense was when you were playing them that week one? I think I figured it out pretty quickly. You did, right? That front is unbelievable with their two edges. Rubin Bain is amazing. And so you figured it out pretty quickly.

29:43And I thought still, like, we played good football. You know, it wasn't our, it was probably the, I said this before, it was probably the worst half of football we played was that first half. Yeah. And from there on out, I don't think we look back and had a really good second half, fought really hard. Put ourselves in a position to have a chance. Yeah. But couldn't get it done, which was disappointing and not fun to experience. And so you try and, you know, flush it because you got a big game the next week. And this is a similar experience. You know, when you think you fought really hard and played good football and comes down to the last play and doesn't go your way. And so you punch on the face twice, you know, to start the year off, which isn't a fun feeling. But you don't really have another option. But to continue, we had, I think it was Purdue the next week. Yeah, that you're right. And we had to go catch a dub and figure out kind of what the team was made of.

30:43Were you doubting yourself a little after those first two games? I mean, what was your vibe, but was the team's vibe? Yeah. Because you guys were, we all knew you were kind of a national championship contender in your O2 all of a sudden. I think from the year before we had experienced that NIU loss. Right. And watching Riley Leonard come back from that. And, you know, his mentality was, well, I got to have a good Monday. I got to have a good Monday practice. I got to have a good Tuesday practice. I got to put together a good week of practice. And the game will take care of itself. And so seeing him do that that year before was the template for how we're going to bounce back after two hard losses. So the only thing we could do was, you know, have a good Monday practice. Prepare as hard as we could for Purdue. And, you know, we'll figure out what we are. Right. If we can, if we can, you know, do it, do that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So you blow them out. What do you think is the game or the time where you started to go? I'm pretty comfortable now in college football. Like, I got a chance to be pretty damn good.

31:43And I can throw the ball around the field here. Yeah. That Arkansas game, I think, was a really, that's us. A break out moment. A break out moment. Yeah. The game slowed down a little bit. I thought, not only for me, but for our whole team, we were playing really, really good football up and down. Right. And it kind of showed us what the offense could be and what this team could achieve if we were consistent with our, you know, our technique and attacking every play. And so after that game, I thought, you know, this team's got a real chance to be some special. Right. You know, even after that, you know, there were ups and downs in the USC game. And, but we strung together, really good 10 win, you know, streak. And I thought we had a really good chance to go do some damage to the playoffs. Didn't end up happening our way, but I was proud of the way the team kind of bounced back after those two hard losses. How much offense, like just last year, did the offense grow once, you know, coach and everybody started to go, hey, wait, he's got it now.

32:45Right. There was a lot of growth there. A lot of new plays as a season went on. I think it's more, you know, you think it's, it gets way more complex. I think for us, it got way simpler. You know, we're going to, we're going to do what we do really well. Right. You find out, like I said, you find out who you are. And then from there, you know, we're going to make our base plays look like different plays with motions and shifts and things like that. But you want to run your, your base plays. You want to run them really well. And then you want to have your, you know, your attacking plays that, okay, if they show up in quarters, we want to throw this. And if it's not quarters, we're going to get to this. So you get into the more complex details once you, you get the basics down. And I thought that's what we had gone, you know, midway through that season. All right. So let's go through a little bit of the heartbreak, right? I'm on record as I told you off camera a few minutes ago. I was on NBC gone Notre Dame. It's the best team in the country. I was going C.J. Carr in the Notre Dame offense is the best offense.

33:45Get the best player on offense in the country, right? What was the mood around here when you guys like figure out you're not going? It was a weird, it was a hard, hard day for us. It was a weird feeling because you go from just a heartbreak of not getting in that playoff. And you feel a little helpless. There's nothing really you can do to then realizing that was the last game you're going to play with your team. With the brothers, you put all this work in with. To climb the bowl game. To climb the bowl game. And this is the last time you're going to be on the field with Billy Schraouth and Jeremiah Love. And those guys have gone on and are now going to be playing in the NFL this next year. It was a hard day, not a fun day. Would you say the expectations before it got announced you guys thought you were going to get in? I think so. I think we had some guys were checking Fandall and the odds were out. It was going to be Notre Dame Oklahoma plus whatever. Just to see if we were in the playoffs.

34:45So I think there was an expectation. I think there was also an expectation that we're a really good football team. And that was first two weeks, although we lost the game. And we could do some real damage to some of the best teams in the nation. And we could compete with every one of them. And we had a lot of confidence in the way we were playing ball towards the end of the year. You should have. Did you watch the college football playoffs? Yeah, I couldn't watch the two lane in the first round. Yeah, I couldn't watch it. That killed you. Yeah. But ended up watching some of those good games. Right. Yeah. But it was hard to swallow. Hard to watch for sure. I hear you. I've been in that vote before. I was at Texas a bunch of times. And we were this close to being in the national championship game. One of them. I blew it. Right. It was my fault we weren't there. So that's always hard. All right. So you get through that whole process. Right. All right. So here there's two things I want to ask you off of that. What do you personally? Why do you wear 13? I was my dad's number. It was. It was all I've ever worn my whole life baseball, basketball of it.

35:46So yeah, I picked at a young age and it just doesn't feel right being another one. Who was your QBs? You looked up to growing up. Tom Brady was always the one missing guy. Played for my grandpa. Of course, Tom. And the greatest. He's the goalers. Nobody will ever touch him. You can't say that here. I asked you. I asked you. What the hell are you doing? Are you kidding me? You're a team. It's kids all screwed up. Now he's the goat. And then as I've kind of progressed and been able to watch more ball, it's been Rogers and Stafford. Stafford this last year was just unbelievable to watch. Right. That offense just diced through great NFL defenses. And so the way he plays is, and I think all three are similar to the style I want to play, and I think they were really functional athletes where they can move in the pocket effectively. Yeah. They're not going to run for 100 yards of game, but make good decisions with football and can extend

36:46to play when needed and make good decisions. You're pretty damn elusive. What position would you play in baseball? I played shortstop. I pitched towards the end of my career. My brother will say I was terrible, but I caught a few games. A little bit. Yeah. I'm not very good at that. I played point guard. Going out, oh yeah. Yeah. And then stopped playing pretty early. We had a good wreck basketball team in my high school year. That's a lot of fun. Right. All right, so that's good enough. So 13 was dad and all that. And I will just say, I've had a catch with some pretty good guys, my homes, burrow, Josh Allen, Caleb Williams. You can spin it as good as any of them. Thank you. You really can. Now now I know you got some work to do playing quarterback like that, but you can spin it every time you play. I know you can spin it as good as them. So there is something there. Your damn quarterback coach, what was his name? Jacksonville. Well, he'll it. Well, he'll it. You did good. Definitely. You taught you a few things for sure. All right, so if you don't mind, I want to walk up to the chess board, right? I went to Texas.

37:46We didn't have those there. All right. So I'm going to walk up there, talk about that because you have a little hobby there. I'm going to talk a little bit more about this year if you don't mind. Money. Cool. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta, and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the fan first energy to NBC Sports Now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines, viral moments, and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The fans. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. Fan 1060 airs, Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports Now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there. All right. So, chess, this is your game, huh? Yes. We're going to have to flip the board though, because I like playing white. They always go first. White always go first. I know you don't play, but I didn't know that. That's a nice little thing to know. That's a little nuance there. My opening is much better. Well, I mean, I mean, at Texas, we didn't do this at Texas. This is how I know I'm a Notre Dame, everybody.

38:46The quarterback plays chess. I was more like, hey, are we going to play Madden later? All my buddies hate on it too. It's not just the Notre Dame thing, but I have been to a dorm party and ended up having some good chess matches with some of the students. Oh, with some people. Right, right. I bet you, there's some smart people over here. So they challenged you. There's no doubt. When did you get into this? My dad taught me at a really young age. I'm not sure the exact age, but I think I had some sort of issue when I was young. When I would lose, I would freak out. And so I remember I played my grandpa one time, and he beat me, and I was just freaking out. Right. So that was last time I played him. Had to rain it in a little bit. Well, you know, it's funny, you're saying this. You're not the first quarterback to tell me they had a temperamental problem when they lose something. And I was in that club with you. I was definitely known as the psycho of my family, as far as throwing a controller at the wall or, you know, bashing it on my head. So yeah, all right. So you learned this at an early age now. Family Dattles, still to this day. Are we talking about?

39:46I'm better than everyone. Nobody will play me. So you've taken over the family. Wow. And I remember that we were in Florida at one point, and he had this long talk with me. I'd never beaten him. He had this long talk. Like, you know, you're getting to that age where I can't take it easy on you. You know, like I really got to, you know, and so I might beat you for a year and a half. And, but, you know, you should kind of keep playing. And the next day I went out of beating him, and I was like, oh, this is the greatest day I've ever had. This is the best day. Yeah, a year and a half of my buddy had. I got you that. All right. So on the team, who's you got anybody that you played with on the regular? You will play me on the team. It's like, they're right. They're just, they're not good enough. And there's a few guys that play. They're just, they know they can't mess with them. They think they play like Thai Washington thinks he plays chess. He's terrible. Yes, can't play chess. Damn, Todd. I mean, I hope you see this tie. You better get them, all right? All right. So that, so, okay, so some of the normal students that you're talking about in the dorm and that. Any of them beat you? Oh, yeah. There's some, there's some smart, you know, chess players on this campus. There's some smart people.

40:46And so I can have some good matches with some of the students here for sure. CJ was all excited because he thought I was going to be able to play with him. I was. And that not capable. So I'm sorry to let you down that way. I was told we were doing this and I was like, oh, this is going to be the greatest thing ever. I'll stay here all day and play. Yeah. No, sorry. It's I'm not smarter than for this one. No doubt. All right. So in the, in the dorm, like, how far are you here from the stadium? From this building you're saying we're about five minutes from stadiums. Yeah. Yeah. And you're mixed in with normal students. Oh, yeah. You just kind of like, oh, you want to play a game and they're down. There's no doubt. You think you think chess helps you play quarterback? Um, I think it speaks to, um, I think you learn a lot of lessons in chess. Right. A lot of strategy goes into it. So I don't think it necessarily helps me with football specifically, but I think it can help you be strategic, which I guess in a way helpful. Yeah. Sure. Sure. A quarterback. Yeah. Definitely. I hear that. All right. So we kind of talked about down in the field last year.

41:49Now we got a new year coming up. The first thing, you know, talk about the difference between going into year two as a starter compared to year one and where you're at, you know, in your mind and your comfortable comfortable comteability, I believe. Is this important to say there? Yeah. From my perspective, I think, um, you know, the amount of details that I've now, you know, I understand about our offense and, um, what every single person is doing has just continued to elevate since the day I was named the starter. And, um, I think the reps that I'm getting now and, and the amount of football I've played is, is going to help, um, you know, not only my personal success, but the, you know, the team success is going to bring us a lot more efficiency and I'm really excited. Who's your, who's, you know, who's some of your buddies on the offense side of the ball? Who you closest to? People ask us this question all the time, but I think it's, it's, it's hard to answer that here because we're all so tight with each other.

42:51There's not a lot to do in South Bend, Indiana. There's small campus, not a lot of students. And so, um, a lot of our time is spent in the goob playing ping pong hanging out with each other, listening to music, going to concerts, doing things like that. And so, um, I'm off at side of the ball. I'm close with every single one of those guys. Yeah. Who'll go out and play with us? Yeah, listen, I, I think that's big. That's cool that you guys are a close team like that. Yeah. That was one of the things I decided where I wanted to go to school was going to see what, there's certain places I went and I was like, man, this team's kind of like divided and has little clicks. I went to Texas because I felt like it was that. I mean, it's, it's an important thing. It is. Yeah. All right. So, tell us about your coach Marcus Freeman, right? What, what he brings to you guys mentally, physically, everything he brings to the table? Yeah, I think he's the best coach for sure in college football and, um, you know, it might be one of the best leaders that we have, um, ever. And, uh, I'm so blessed to be able to be around him and be able to take, you know, the notes that he has and the lessons that he's, he's had from Ohio State and his life and,

43:55right. So, I'm really able to take, you know, what I can from them. I think a big thing about free is, um, you see a lot of coaches, you know, want to talk about how there's, there are players coach and how they love their players and they do anything for them. Um, and it doesn't really matter because it's, it's not what you say you're going to do or what you say you are. It's, um, it's what you do and what's how you show up every day, how you, um, you know, every time you watch him walk into the building, he knows every single person, he knows every player on his team, he treats everyone. Um, his motto is, you know, there's, everyone has the same amount of importance on this team and we need everyone to win. You know, he's not going to treat the starting quarterback, um, any differently than he's going to treat a walk on or, um, the third string alignment, like he treats everyone the same and, um, just understands how important it is to have this, especially another day. How does he handle the O and two start last year, right? To get you guys turned around like, what, what sticks out about him in that moment?

44:57That's another thing, you know, you learn about free is he's always going to look at himself first and, um, you know, that he's done the introspection, um, post loss, post win that needs to be done. Um, and so he has these big lessons after he, you know, he always says we, you learn more in the losses than you do in the wins and he has these big, um, you know, thoughts after the loss. And so after A&M, it was, you know, himself personally and then the team, we need to give more to Notre Dame. We need to double down on the preparation. We need to, you know, continue to refine our, our routines and how we attack and, um, and so just how can, how can we give more to Notre Dame? And I remember the year before that after the tech say in M game and then we lose to N.I.U. and we got to learn how to handle success. You know, we got to learn how we're on the top of the world after beating A&M. We think we're really good and then you go and lose the N.I.U. and you're kind of the laughing stock of college football.

45:57And so, um, those big lessons after those losses, you know, stick with you. How about, I can tell he's, he's real because you call him coach free or do you call him free free? Just free. Yeah. That of itself just tells me he's real. Yeah. There's not a lot of coaches that'll go, oh yeah, just call me a nickname or whatever else. Yeah. Tell, all right, tell me something maybe we don't know about. First, this is what I want to know first. Have you seen him in the weight room? Oh, every day. Well, that's the, like you walk in it. I mean, I'm not walking in at 4.30, but he's in there at 5 a.m. running, doing everything. He's finishing his run by the time the first lift group starts, which is 6.30. Wow. So like he's in there working. He's in the office working late. Takes the first in last out, very seriously. And yeah, we see him in the weight room. He's in there all the time. I mean, his chest at times, I'm like, damn coaches, the time press. Yeah, sorry. I love it. I know not a lot of coaches have that. All right. So specifically, we got, you're going to Lambo field. Have you ever been to Lambo field?

46:58I don't believe so. I don't think so. You're in for a treat. Like, I was only there a few times as a player. I didn't get to play. I was the backup. But it is like a pantheon, a football. That's awesome. Right? So I know you're, you know football and history though. So tell us, what does it mean to kind of play in a place like that against Wisconsin to start the year? Yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting. I think every, every other year we do our Shyamrock series, Jersey. And we talk about the tradition of Notre Dame. And so being able to represent, you know, our university and, you know, a special looking jersey and do it with your brothers is a, is a, is a cool experience. And I think we're also excited to show what, you know, we've been putting the work in this off season four. And it's about that time in the year where you're just kind of itching to get back on the field, put the pads back on, here the crack. And it's going to be a lot of fun. We're really excited. Is life going to change for you without your two stud running backs? And Jeremiah Gidariah? No.

47:59No, because we're going to have two really good running backs who replace them. I know those two are, you know, no team has had, you know, two first round running backs in a long time. Yeah. Especially those two. And so we're going to miss them and things won't be the same without them. But I think we got the talent to do special things this year. And it's going to be a lot of fun. Man, I mean, you're going to be on the field. They're a bread far and your man, Aaron Rogers, you should tear it up. It's a great throwing stadium. It's great. Because it feels really close. You're going to get on the field and go, is it really a hundred yards? I feel like I might be able to throw it off our field. That's good enough. Which is a good thing for you. All right. So off of that, we got that. Now, there's another game on the schedule. Okay. That's going to be on NBC later in the year. And that's Miami. November 7th coming up here. Right? Is revenge on your guy's mind? Is when I bring a name up, like a game up like that? No, the word is not revenge. You know, the goal of this year is we've already talked about it.

49:03This is the year noted name. You know, we're not worried about anyone else. You know, the only team in the country that can beat Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Yeah. And if we play the way we know we can play and we, you know, are really truly tapped into reaching our full potential. You know, we're going to do a lot of damages here. And so it's not about any other team. It's about, you know, doing what we can do every day. Where do you think you made the most progress this off season? Right? What was the one thing you were like, I'm going to work on this, or I need to be a little bit better at that? Yeah, I think it's just continuing to be consistent, not only on the field, but in, you know, my everyday life. I think the best players in football understand, you know, we got to stay ahead of the chains. We got to keep the ball moving. We got to win our one-on-ones, give our guys a chance. When that time comes and make good decisions with the football. And so just continuing to be more consistent and having my floor be higher than anyone else that's seeing is going to help us win games.

50:04Right. How about your throwing mechanics and stuff like that? Was anything this year you worked on or just went when you watched film from last year? I went, ooh, I got into a few bad habits of this or that. Anything like that jump out? Yeah, I think working with Will, this year's emphasis was really staying balanced through the throw and we've done some drills with punch in the back foot through instead of keeping it back and being able to go out there into Jacksonville and, you know, clean up all those things. It makes you feel really good going into the summer into fall camp. And so I'm excited the way I've been throwing the ball recently and it's going to be fun. Yeah, all right. So you're saying you're staying on the back of your foot too much and now you're getting through it all the way through there? I think at times the hips slide almost and slide lean. Left, head pulls instead of maybe flattening out the arm, staying more. Keeping your base in the ground and pulling it out of it a little bit, stepping in the bucket, whatever there. Hey, I appreciate you hanging out with me. Thanks a lot. You're the man. This guy here, he's not confused on the football field.

51:06He was supposed to go to Michigan but he came to Notre Dame and now he's the man. The man. Thanks for everything. Appreciate it. All right, best of luck. Carried up out there. We'll be rooting for you. Thank you. Welcome everyone to Fanta in 60. A brand new show with me, John Fanta and my co-host Jay Croucher. Join us as we bring the FAN First Energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the Fanta. I'm going to be a fan of the Fanta in 60. I'm going to be a fan of the Fanta. Join the FAN First Energy to NBC Sports now. My new show is the place for understanding the week in sports. We'll talk big storylines, viral moments and most importantly, we'll hear directly from you. The FAN. It's going to be a great hand. I can't wait for you all to see it. FAN 1060 airs, Mondays at 6 p.m. Easter on NBC Sports now and NBC Sports Radio. See you there.