Notre Dame Running Backs Named To Phil Steele's Top 10 List
Notre Dame's backfield is flying under the radar in many circles, but don't count Phil Steele as one of those who is overlooking the Irish running backs. In his preseason college football magazine, Steele ranked the Notre Dame running backs as the 10th best in all of college football.
Steele released the most up-to-date season preview magazine, so his ranking reflects the Irish losing Logan Diggs and adding Devyn Ford, which adds validity to this ranking.
"Audric Estime took control in '22 and led with 920. RFr. Jadarian Price was injured last year. They add Devyn Ford from Penn St plus true frosh Jeremiyah Love and RFr. Gi'Bran Payne. They are so deep Chris Tyree moves to WR." - Steele
One of the questions about the Notre Dame backfield is a lack of proven production behind standout Audric Estime. While a valid question mark, lack of production at running back is often vastly overstated, and Notre Dame has a strong history of that.
Estime carried the ball only 7 times in 2021, but went from that to 156 carries and 920 yards (5.9 YPC) and 11 touchdowns in 2022. Estime was just as unproven the year prior, but when given the opportunity this past season he broke out in impressive fashion.
In fact, Estime and Diggs combined for just 290 rushing yards and three touchdowns as freshmen in 2021, and then the duo broke out for a combined 1,742 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in 2022.
Prior to Estime and Diggs, the lead ball carrier for Notre Dame was Kyren Williams, who had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2020 and 2021. In 2019, his freshman season, Williams had just 4 carries for 26 yards. He went from that in year one to 1,125 yards and 13 touchdowns in year two.
Josh Adams rushed for 838 yards and six touchdowns as a true freshman in 2015. That same season, converted wide receiver CJ Prosise - who had just 10 career carries coming into that season - rushed for 1,029 yards and 11 touchdowns. Cierre Wood rushed for a team-leading 603 yards as a redshirt freshman with no career carries back in 2010.
Notre Dame's 2022 backfield, in my view, was without question one of the ten best in all of college football, and if Diggs would have returned in 2023 that likely would have been the consensus. But the 2023 backfield actually enters the season with more proven production than the 2022 group.
Last season, Notre Dame's running backs entered the season with a combined 188 career carries for a combined 1,008 career yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. Notre Dame's 2023 backfield enters the season with 305 combined career carries for 1,651 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Notre Dame will need a similar breakout from its younger backs if the backfield is going to earn the Top 10 ranking. That means freshman Jadarian Price needs to be healthy and classmate Gi'Bran Payne needs to build on his strong spring. Explosive freshman Jeremiyah Love will be hard to keep off the field, and his combination of speed as a runner and pass catching ability gives him value as a rookie.
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