Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr’s path to South Bend is about a lot more than football.
That came through clearly during Saturday’s edition of ESPN’s College GameDay, which gave fans a moving look at Carr’s bond with his younger brother, Chad, who died in 2015 at age five after battling diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer.
The feature added a new layer to Carr’s decision to play for Notre Dame. What might have looked like just another high-profile college choice instead carried a deeply personal meaning tied to his brother’s memory.
Football has always been woven into the Carr family. CJ’s grandfather, Lloyd Carr, is one of the most recognizable names in Michigan football history after leading the Wolverines to a national championship in 1997.
With that background, it would have been easy to assume CJ would end up in Ann Arbor. Instead, he chose Notre Dame and eventually became the quarterback of one of Michigan’s longtime rivals.
That choice, though, is exactly the kind of thing Chad would have enjoyed.
Jen Lada’s story showed Chad as playful and willing to buck the family’s Michigan loyalties. CJ believes his younger brother would have loved seeing him in Notre Dame’s blue and gold rather than Michigan’s maize and blue.
It’s a small detail, but it says a lot about the way Chad’s personality still lives on in the family’s memories.
The Carr family has also kept Chad’s legacy going through the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation, which raises awareness and supports research into the disease.
For Notre Dame, Carr is the quarterback expected to lead the Fighting Irish on the field. But ESPN’s feature reminded viewers that there’s a much bigger story behind the helmet - one shaped by loss, family, and a brother whose influence still matters.
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It is easy to see why the price keeps rising. Games with playoff implications and high national profiles have been pushing the market all season, and this one fits that mold with Notre Dame hosting Miami in a Saturday night showcase on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET. For a program that always draws attention at home, this is the kind of matchup that turns a regular trip to South Bend into one of the hottest tickets in the sport. [Read more 🡒]