Notre Dame Football: A Different "4 Horsemen" in the Backfield

Notre Dame football has had some talented running back rooms over the years and it has another again this season with Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Kedren Young and Aneyas Williams. How special can this group be for the Irish in 2024-25?

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (4) Saturday, April 20, 2024, at the annual Notre Dame Blue-Gold spring football game at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. / MANDATORY CREDIT GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

Notre Dame has consistently had great running backs over the years, and it has only gotten better under the tutelage of Deland McCullough.

Since taking over the running backs room in 2022, the Irish have blossomed at the position and this incoming group should keep that trend in a big way.

After losing Audric Estime to the NFL, Notre Dame trots out a younger, inexperienced group at running back for the 2024 season. It is an exciting group though, with varying skillsets and abilities which feed perfectly into McCullough's coaching style.

McCullough sees nine "roles" for running backs within his system. With the versatile Gi'Bran Payne likely lost for the majority of the season, it will likely be down to the aforementioned Love, Price, Young and Williams to take up the workload this season.

Relying on two freshmen is not exactly ideal, so there is an emergency valve in the experienced Devyn Ford who will also likely see some run.

As for how the Notre Dame running backs fit into McCullough's "roles", that is yet to be seen. We can expect Love to be used heavily in the passing and running game, with Price doing more of the in-between the tackles running. Other than that there is plenty of room for opportunity.

From their senior year film, the freshmen tandem of Kedren Young and Aneyas Williams have very different skillsets, which should serve them both well this season in getting on the field.

Young, a more traditional three-down back, has the power to run between the tackles and is also shifty enough to make people miss in space. Williams on the other hand has been long compared to former Notre Dame running back and current NFL star Kyren Williams, a smaller back, with the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and also bounce it outside for long rushes.

Notre Dame does trot out a young, inexperienced offensive line this season, so it will not always be easy running for the Irish backfield, especially with the recent loss of Charles Jagusah for the season due to a torn pectoral muscle in spring practice.

This also puts the Notre Dame running backs in a spot where if they are able to impress in pass protection, which will be important as ever week one at College Station, they will have a great chance to have a prominent role in the offense.

Keep an eye out for more news coming on the freshman running backs specifically as we get further into camp.

Young and Williams are stars in the making, so it'd be wise to start getting familiar with them now.

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