SOUTH BEND — CJ Carr, Notre Dame football’s highly rated freshman quarterback, remains on no-throw status as he works back from an injury to his throwing elbow, coach Marcus Freeman said Monday.

Surgery, however, is not on the table for the Saline, Mich., product who has appeared in just one game this year, taking the final four snaps of the Sept. 14 runaway at Purdue.

“No, it doesn’t have to be surgery,” Freeman said. “He’s still returning to being able to throw. I think we’d probably see a progression for him to start throwing here soon.”

Based on Freeman’s previous comments, Carr suffered the setback sometime during practice leading up to the Sept. 28 game against Louisville. The four-star recruit has been limited to mental reps during pregame warmups since then, but Carr did make the travel roster for games at Georgia Tech and Navy.

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“We’ve been overly cautious on his return to play,” Freeman said. “We don’t need to rush it. Let’s make sure he is 110% healed. If he was the starting quarterback this year, you probably would have pushed him a little more aggressively, but we want to be smart in making sure he is 110% healed and rehabbing his elbow to a point where he’s better than probably what he was previously.”

Carr shined during the Blue-Gold Game in April and in limited practice viewings during fall camp. At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, he was sharing scout team duties with redshirt freshman Kenny Minchey until suffering the unspecified injury to his throwing elbow.

Any chance to gain experience in mop-up duty this season would be helpful in Carr’s potential bid to win the starting job in 2025. In the meantime, Carr is making the most of his downtime.

“He’s a football guy,” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said on Oct. 22. “He’s never not going to be involved however he can be involved. And I think there’s good news where that’s concerned as far as him getting back in the mix here soon.”

In other injury updates, freshman safety Tae Johnson is listed as a backup boundary cornerback after returning to practice during the bye week. The 6-2, 188-pound product of Fort Wayne’s North Side High School underwent surgery in mid-August to repair a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot.

“It’s a credit to his skillset,” Freeman said. “He can play multiple positions. Shoot, Tae Johnson could play receiver if we needed him to. He’s a great athlete. We’re just looking at the depth of our corners with some injuries. For this defense right now at this time, that’s the role we need him to be in.”

Kicker Mitch Jeter (right hip) and defensive end Loghan Thomas (right hamstring) are listed as questionable this week.

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football still hopes to get CJ Carr back to throwing soon