Notre Dame Lands Stanford Grad Transfer Running Back
Notre Dame has added a veteran to the backfield, landing Stanford graduate transfer Trevor Speights, who chose the Irish over Rice.
Speights was recruited to Stanford by current Notre Dame running backs coach Lance Taylor. A three-star recruit according to 247Sports and Rivals, Speights failed to make much of an impact with the Cardinal.
After redshirting in 2016, Speights rushed for 142 yards (3.9 YPC) in 2017 and 221 yards (3.7 YPC) in 2018. Speights comes to Notre Dame with just 363 career rushing yards and a 3.8 yards per carry average.
In 2018, Speights rushed for 87 yards on 11 carries against UC-Davis, but went for just 127 yards on 46 carries (2.7 YPC) against Power 5 opponents.
Speights reached the end zone just once in 19 games and caught seven passes for 54 yards.
He was expected to get more action in 2019 but ended up missing the entire season because of an injury.
Speights gives the Irish backfield another body, but what he adds to the backfield is a major question mark. Clearly Taylor thinks well of Speights, who did have impressive high school film, but he was less than impressive in a Cardinal uniform.
Notre Dame has a questionable running back depth chart, with a number of young players looking to take a big step this season. What we don't know yet is will Speights be able to stay healthy and regain his prep form, or will he remain an injury-prone light producer who takes much-needed snaps away from the young backs that need the work.
If Speights can return to his prep form it will give the Irish backfield a boost.
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