Notre Dame Backfield Has A Chance To Be Brian Kelly's Top Group
Notre Dame had one of the better backfield of the Brian Kelly era, and there's a good chance the duo could end up becoming the best before they are done.
Notre Dame's 2020 offense was fueled by a grind it out run game that finished the season averaging 211.1 yards per game.
There were several factors that contributed to the quality run production, including one of the nation's best offensive lines and a mobile quarterback. Of course, the primary producers for the run game were the running backs.
The good news for Notre Dame is the backfield returns almost entirely intact in 2021, and it is still a very young group of ball carriers. In fact, 98.8% of the rushing yards from the running back depth chart is set to return next season.
Sophomore Kyren Williams won the ACC Rookie of the Year honors after becoming just the fourth back of the Kelly era to top 1,000 yards on the ground. Chris Tyree had the third best freshman season for a Notre Dame back in 25 years, rushing for 496 yards.
It was the first season in the lineup for both players, and they are just getting started. There is, however, a lot of work still to be done.
Let's begin this analysis by looking at the running back production for the Notre Dame backfields of the Kelly era.
Notre Dame's 2020 running back group had the third best yards per game average of any backfield of the past 11 seasons, trailing just the 2017 group (Josh Adams, Dexter Williams, Deon McIntosh, Tony Jones Jr.) and the 2012 unit (Theo Riddick, Cierre Wood, George Atkinson III, Cam McDaniel).
It tied the 2018 group (Williams, Jones, Jafar Armstrong) for second most touchdowns, behind only the 2011 backfield (Wood, Jonas Gray, Atkinson). It ranked sixth out of 11 teams in yards per carry despite Tyree averaging 6.7 yards per rush.
Part of what makes the 2020 unit so effective is its ability to make plays in the run game and pass game. Here's a look at how the backfield stacks up in all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving).
The 2020 backfield was very close to the top group (2012) and the second best unit (2017), trailing each by three yards or less. The 2012 backfield was similarly diverse, while the 2017 unit did most of its damage on the ground, hauling in just 16 passes for 109 yards, compared to 43 catches for 378 yards from the 2020 unit and 41 catches for 395 yards from the 2012 backfield.
Williams was the primary ball carrier for the Irish this season, and here's how his season stacks up to other single seasons for Irish backs.
Williams had the most rushing touchdowns of any Notre Dame running back during this stretch, and only quarterback Brandon Wimbush (14) had more in a single season. Williams had the second most rushing yards, behind only Adams (2017). His 93.8 yards per game trailed Adams and Williams (2018), and was slightly ahead of CJ Prosise (2015).
His 5.33 yards per rush ranked sixth among the top rushers for the Irish each season, and it was the lowest yards per carry average by a Notre Dame leading rusher since 2014.
The one-two punch of Williams and Tyree was good, but it didn't quite stack up to other duos.
Williams and Tyree ranked sixth in rushing yards per game and sixth in yards per carry. They did tied for second in rushing touchdowns.
But as I stated already, what is missed when only looking at rushing yards is this group did more damage in the pass game than most Notre Dame backfield.
The 2020 tandem of Williams and Tyree averaged more receiving yards per game than any previous Notre Dame backfield duo under Kelly and caught more passes than any previous group despite playing just 12 games. It doesn't even include the five catches for 74 yards that C'Bo Flemister and Jafar Armstrong produced this season.
Tyree wasn't used nearly as much as Williams, or as much as he should have if we're being honest here, but he still had one of the best freshman seasons by a Notre Dame running back in over two decades.
Only Adams had more yards and a better yards per carry average than did Tyree, and a big reason for that is that Adams was the primary ball carrier in three full games and a large chunk of two others when Prosise went out with an injury.
Over the last 25 seasons, only Adams and Darius Walker (786 yards in 2004) had more rushing yards in their first season than Tyree produced this past season. It was also better than the last star running back that Notre Dame signed from Virginia. That would be Julius Jones, who rushed for 375 yards (5.0 YPC) as a true freshman in 1999.
If you go all the way back to the year Lou Holtz was hired (1986), the list of freshman running backs to rush for more yards than Tyree's 496 is just four players long. Adams, Walker, Autry Denson (695 yards, 5.1 YPC in 1995) and Randy Kinder (537 yards, 6.0 YPC in 1993). I also included fullbacks in this research.
When you consider the youth and inexperience of this backfield coming into the season, it was quite the first season together. In 2021 the backfield will welcome talented runner Audric Estime, and it could also include Logan Diggs, which means the unit will be absolutely loaded over the next few seasons.
There are areas where the young group must get better, and certainly more ways where the staff can use them more effectively, but the future at running back seems to be in great shape, which is a welcome sight after a few years of poor recruiting at the position.
If the unit stays healthy and stays together, the next season or two could end up being one, if not the best backfield groups in well over a decade.
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