Notre Dame Will Look To Develop A Three-Headed Monster At Running Back
It’s the next man in philosophy for Notre Dame at running back now that Kyren Williams has departed for the NFL.
In this case, it’ll be the next three men in for the Fighting Irish when they play Oklahoma State on Jan. 1 in the Fiesta Bowl.
It was perhaps a bit of a surprise when Williams announced he wasn’t playing in the Fiesta Bowl so he could prepare for the NFL draft, but it certainly wasn’t completely unexpected.
Williams rushed for 1,002 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. He averaged 3.9 yards per carry. He also caught 42 passes for 359-yards and three TDs. Williams started the last 24 games for Notre Dame.
Next up on the depth chart is Chris Tyree, an explosive sophomore with game-changing speed. Tyree has been slowed this season with a turf toe injury. He has rushed for 201 yards on 50 carries. His biggest play this season was a 96-yard fourth quarter kick return for a score against Wisconsin.
Freshman Logan Diggs isn’t far behind. Diggs has rushed for 201 yards on 43 carries with three touchdowns.
Tyree and Diggs will be the first options.
“To see Logan out there, he’s done a great job,” head coach Marcus Freeman said follow Sunday's practice. “He’s done a great job being a freshman but I told him I don’t consider you a freshman. He’s an experienced guy, and Chris Tyree has done a great job. He brings a different element of speed to the backfield."
Freeman said another freshman, Audric Estime, could get some reps also. Estime, a 6-foot, 228-pound bruiser, rushed for 61 yards on six carries.
"Even Audric has done a good job, he’s a big physical back, he was punishing a couple of people yesterday," Freeman stated. "It’s good to have that three-man crew going out there and sharing the load. It’ll be exciting but there is no Kyren Williams. There is only one Kyren Williams and we have to replace his production. We don’t have to be Kyren Williams but you have to replace his production.”
Freeman touched on all three players. None of them appear to be capable of picking up all the reps running the ball and receiving that Williams was getting.
Freeman, who has two practices in as the head coach, said he’s still trying to figure out how much input he’ll have into the offensive game plans.
He’s been a defensive coach at every stop.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be yet,” Freeman said when asked if he’ll be an active part of offensive game planning.
Freeman said he plans on learning more about the offense through offensive coordinator Tommy Rees before he makes any major decisions about how he wants that side of the ball to operate.
“I want to make sure we have a good balance in terms of run and pass,” he said. “You know what? I want to be good. That’s what I told Tommy. It’s not that we have to run the ball a thousand times or throw it a thousand times. I want to be efficient in what we do. I want to be able to control the clock if we need to and I want to score points if we need to.”
Freeman said he’s going to immerse himself in the offense during the offseason.
“I’m going to spend more time with those (offensive) guys,” he said. “I’ll be able to give them input from the defensive side too.”
For now it's about getting his team ready to beat the Cowboys.
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