There may not be anyone in the world who understands the weight on Marcus Freeman’s shoulders better than CJ Carr.
The head coach of Notre Dame and the starting quarterback of Notre Dame both share thoughts and feelings that aren’t comprehensible to any mortal person. They’re placed on a pedestal that at times can allow them to reach heights not many get to see. At other times they’re up there to be judged and criticized by the common man, ripped apart for every decision, every play.
So on Sundays, when Freeman and Carr meet, they do so at equal height, both having a clear understanding of the sheer amount of pressure the other carries. Not even their closest families or friends could ever truly understand what it’s like to be in their shoes.
That’s why this weekly meeting between coach and quarterback is not as much one between teacher and student, but more of a meeting of peers. For Freeman, it may be the most important meeting of each week.
“I’ve often said there’s, I doubt that anybody else who emulates or understands what the position of the head coach at Notre Dame is than the starting quarterback at Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “I’ve kind of made it a habit of mine to meet with the starting quarterback.
“During the season, we meet on Sundays. For me, I like that time. We’re intentional about it. We talk about the game. We talk about life. We talk about family. It gives me a chance to just talk to somebody. My wife, a lot of times, she’s asleep when I get home, so I don’t have anybody to talk to sometimes.”
The responsibility these two men carry on a day-to-day basis isn’t normal, it’s probably more than any single coach and quarterback pairing in the entire nation.
For Freeman, he’s the man that is supposed to usher in this next great era of Notre Dame football. He’s supposed to be the guy that can finally win the Irish another national championship. He’s already gotten Notre Dame back to that stage, but none of this will mean much in the long run if he doesn’t get back there and win it.
And for the second consecutive season his team has been put on life support by the middle of September, and both times he has led his team through the darkness and back into the national spotlight.
All of this probably doesn’t equate to getting the best night of sleep.
For CJ Carr, he walked onto the campus of Notre Dame crowned one of the best Irish quarterback prospects in recent memory. Now that he actually is the starting quarterback, and he has proven to be someone who could lead the Irish back to national glory, he’s ascended above what you would consider your typical student-athlete.
That’s why the weekly meeting between the two is more than just breaking down game tape or analyzing why Carr made a certain decision in the third quarter. It’s a meeting of two people who truly understand each other on a personal level.
You only get one opportunity to be the head coach or quarterback at Notre Dame. There may not be a better, more meaningful place in the world to win at than in South Bend. But with that probably comes a feeling that no one else can understand.
“I get more out of it selfishly than probably the quarterbacks do,” Freeman said. “They help me feel better because I gain wisdom from them. I do. It is more beneficial. I know it is more for me than probably them. It’s important for me to be intentional about putting that time on my schedule because if I don’t, it’ll get eaten up. And so it’s important to me to have that intentional time with those guys.”
If Freeman and Carr were to go on and win a national title at Notre Dame, whether it’s this year or in years to come, they’d be gods amongst men. If they were to fail, they would join a list of men who many believed could be the ones to bring the Irish back, but ultimately never were.
Not many people can understand the thoughts that those two probably think, the what ifs that rack through their brains every moment of every day, the level of greatness they can achieve and the huge fall from grace if they fail.
No one can understand that — except them.
That’s why they need each other.
They need each other to help relieve the pressure that comes with having the weight of the world on your shoulders. Because that pressure has crushed many men before, and it can crush them too.
Maybe one day they’ll walk into their meeting without that pressure, without the ghosts of years past staring them in the eyes.
Maybe one day they can just talk about the simpleness of what went wrong on fourth down.
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