Notre Dame's "Five-Headed" Running Back Room Ready To Go

Fighting Irish running backs coach Deland McCullough details the stable of talent he has in his position group

Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough is ready to unleash a five-headed monster on the college football world in 2023. The second year Fighting Irish assistant coach has a board with a five-headed monster on it in his office. Each head represents one of the five scholarship running backs under his charge.

There’s one each for Audric Estime, Gi’Bran Payne, Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love and Devyn Ford. Estime is the known commodity of the bunch, but McCullough has plenty of work to go around for all five of his backs.

"It’s somewhat well-chronicled that I have different jobs,” McCullough explained. "There’s 9-10 starting jobs, so even recruiting I’m looking for guys that can fit jobs. I don’t look for a guy that has to be perfect in everything. Just like the great Knute Rockne said, 'Continue to polish those weaknesses but build on their strengths, too.'

"If I have a guy that’s a great pass protector but he might be lacking in something else, we’re going to play to that,” McCullough continued. "That’s the beauty of our situation, we take a bunch of guys and make complete pieces of the puzzle by putting those things together. I’m excited where we’re at. I have all the elements I need to be successful in terms of power, speed, in-space, overall intelligence, the savvy to get it done. There’s some guys that are stronger than other guys at certain points and we’re going to continue to build them up. But at the same time, the things that they’re strong at, you’ll see them on Saturday for sure.”

Estime led the Fighting Irish with 920 yards and 11 touchdown runs last season, while ranking No. 28 nationally with 5.9 yards per carry. In the final 10 games of the season, which included the Gator Bowl victory over South Carolina, Estime averaged an impressive 6.6 yards per carry. The bruising while light footed 227-pound junior figures to get the lion’s share of the carries, but the other four backs are all likely to factor in McCullough’s plans this season.

GI'BRAN PAYNE

Payne is a sophomore academically, but he preserved his redshirt last season by playing in only the last four games of the season. He had just two carries for five yards as a rookie, but after an eye-opening spring that turned into an impressive fall training camp, Payne figures to have a much bigger role this season.

"Gi’Bran is somebody who can run the ball with power and vision,” McCullough said. “He can pass protect really, really good, he can move the chains as a short-yardage guy, he has power that maybe because of is compact build and get behind his pads with great leg drive. There’s a whole lot of things, a two-minute guy.

"Gi’Bran brings a whole lot to the table just because of his high football IQ and his will to get the job done,” McCullough continued. "He’s very detailed. Coming out of camp, off the top of my head, he probably consistently graded as the highest guy in the room. Maybe Audric was right there close to him. Gi’Bran came out 92-93 percent.”

JADARIAN PRICE

Price is back in the mix this season as well. Price was an early enrollee in the spring of 2022 and looked like he might be the lead back last season before a summer Achilles injury forced him to miss his entire freshman season. An offseason of hard work and rehab have him back and ready to go this fall.

"What I’ve seen from him a couple of springs ago, I wanted to see that manifest itself again,” McCullough said of Price. "Over the weekend, the jersey scrimmage on Saturday, he showed that burst and that physicality once again, so it was great to see.

"JD had been here before, but he had been out for a little bit,” McCullough continued. "Getting him back up, but JD has been great physically. I think the thing he has to overcome is the mental part, not overcome but continue to strengthen is the mental part. Trusting his reads, route detail, different things like that. Physically the guy looks real good.”

JEREMIYAH LOVE

Love didn’t get to campus until summer workouts began in June, but he quickly made a big impression on his new position coach. The St. Louis native arrived at 186 pounds, but he has already bulked up to 202. Love has been one of a handful of players who have auditioned to be one of the kickoff returners and figures to be a factor.

"When he came here, I said I wanted to know if he was about that life,” said McCullough. "Running hard, running through guys. You look at him, you think he might be a finesse guy. Nah, he (is) about that life. Jeremiyah (is) running through some guys, he’s strong in pass protection, he’s super-fast, he’s very athletic, and he’s extremely intelligent. With that combination, he’s super hungry. He’s made major, major strides.

"I was really impressed by him because you never know,” McCullough continued. "Because he’s a fast guy, so you wonder if he’s physical. I told him, 'I’m going to find out real quick how this relationship is going to go. You going to put your shoulder down and you going to run through some guys, we (are) going to get along real good.’ The very first play, he got blown up, he got hit right in his mouth. So that was exciting to see him get up and keep going. He ran through a couple of guys at the scrimmage, so I’m excited to see him work.”

DEVYN FORD

The “fifth head” of the five-headed monster is Penn State transfer Devyn Ford. The former four star recruit ran for just 666 total yards in his four seasons with the Nittany Lions and opted to use his grad transfer to join the Irish after McCullough watched his game film.

"I knew that on the surface this guy is a four-phase special teams guy,” McCullough said of Ford. "That’s going to upgrade us as a team. What about the room? I liked what I saw on tape. I really liked what I saw on tape. When I spoke to him I knew he’d be a fit because of how hungry he was, how much of a football junkie he is as far as wanting to know all the details. One of the coaches there told me that if they were starting a staff, they would have him on there because he was that smart as a football guy.

"He’s been on it,” McCullough continued. "Jumped into everything, working hard, all the guys on the team love him, his work ethic is contagious. His skill set is ridiculous. The guy ran 22.5 MPH a week-and-a-half ago. A guy with a burst like that is going to be big for us this season.”

Though Estime is still the only truly proven back in the room, it’s still a group that is brimming with talent and that has shown it throughout fall camp. Notre Dame’s five-headed monster should be fun to watch this season. 

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