Notre Dame Run Game Should Make A Big Jump Under Mike Denbrock

History shows that Mike Denbrock leads offenses to much greater run game heights, which bodes well for Notre Dame in 2024 and beyond

There is plenty of excitement in Notre Dame circles thanks to the arrival of Mike Denbrock as the program's offensive coordinator. There are plenty of reasons for this excitement, not the least of which is that Denbrock is coming off a season in which he led the nation's best offense, and produced a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback in Jayden Daniels.

Denbrock had great success at LSU and Cincinnati, and his 2015 Notre Dame offense set a modern program record in yards per play (7.02). One area where Denbrock has had a great deal of success in the past is helping to make an immediate improvement with the ground game. Considering how good Notre Dame was at running the ball the last two seasons, if Denbrock can make a similar improvement in 2024 the Irish ground game should be incredibly good.

Let's take a look at how the run game has improved at Denbrock's most recent stops as the program's offensive coordinator. We'll start with Cincinnati.

Cincinnati struggled mightily with its ground game in 2016, the season prior to Denbrock's arrival. The Bearcats rushed for just 118.2 yards per game and 3.6 yards per attempt. Cincinnati went for over 150 yards just three times, and was held to 100 yards or fewer in five games. Cincinnati averaged just 100.1 yards per game on the ground in the final eight games of the season.

Under Denbrock's leadership the Cincinnati ground game started to take off in year one. The overall numbers weren't impressive, and the Bearcats got off to a rough start, averaging just 101.1 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry over the season's first seven games. There was a breakout in late October, and Cincinnati rushed for 183.2 yards per game and 5.4 yards per carry in the final five games.

Cincinnati's ground game took over in year two and stayed strong. Over the next four seasons, the Bearcats averaged 207.2 rushing yards per game and 5.1 yards per attempt. 

It took some time to get the Cincinnati ground game rolling, with the first signs of life coming late in season one. Things got off to a much, much faster start at LSU.

From a statistical standpoint, LSU was even worse running the ball than Cincinnati was prior to Denbrock's arrival. The Tigers rushed for just 114.1 yards per game and 3.3 yards per carry in the 2021 season, which was the season before Denbrock showed up. LSU went for just 117.4 yards per game and 3.3 yards per attempt in the previous two seasons and failed to reach double digits in rushing touchdowns in each season.

LSU rushed for over 200 yards in three of the first four games of the 2022 season. The Tigers went for 207 yards in a win over Mississippi State, 185 yards each in wins over Auburn and Alabama, 252 yards in a win over Ole Miss and 220 yards in a bowl win over Purdue.

LSU benefited a great deal from having Jayden Daniels at quarterback, as the dual-threat signal caller rushed for 2,019 yards and 21 touchdowns in his two seasons under Denbrock. When you look at the success of the backs you'll see it wasn't just Daniels that saw a big jump. 

LSU's running backs went from 4.4 and 4.6 yards per attempt in the two seasons prior to Denbrock arriving to 5.4 and 5.5 yards per attempt in the two years under Denbrock. The LSU offense rushed for just nine touchdowns in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The running backs alone rushed for 27 touchdowns in 2022 and 22 touchdowns in 2023.

Denbrock inherited a Cincinnati offense that rushed for just 118.2 yards per game prior to his arrival, and a LSU offense that averaged just 117.4 yards on the ground in the two seasons prior to his arrival.

Cincinnati's offense rushed for 193.5 yards per game (5.0 YPC) in five seasons under Denbrock and LSU rushed for 193.7 yards per game (5.5 YPC) in his two seasons in Baton Rouge.

At Notre Dame, Denbrock is walking into the best situation of his career. He was hired as an offensive coordinator three times prior to his most recent arrival in South Bend. The offenses he inherited averaged just 150.9 rushing yards per game (Notre Dame, 2013), 118.2 yards per game (Cincinnati, 2016) and 114.1 yards per game (LSU, 2021).

The 2023 Notre Dame offense rushed for 185.7 rushing yards per game and 5.3 yards per attempt. Even without Audric Estime, who was brilliant in 2023 (1,341 yards - 18 touchdowns) the Irish ground game that Denbrock inherits has loads of potential.

Returning running backs Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price and Gi'Bran Payne combined for 825 rushing yards and 5.1 yards per carry last season. The group came into the season with a combined two carries for five yards, so they had a big jump while backing up Estime. That group takes over in 2024, and it gives Denbrock the most talented backfield he's had in a long time, and one that could contend with the 2015 group at Notre Dame (CJ Prosise, Josh Adams, Dexter Williams) for the best backfield he's ever had as an offensive coordinator.

Then there is quarterback Riley Leonard, who brings a dynamic running element to the offense that it hasn't had in some time. Leonard is a top-notch athlete with a proven track record as a runner. Leonard won the starting quarterback role at Duke as a true sophomore, and in that season (2022) the Alabama native rushed for 699 yards and 13 touchdowns while averaging 5.6 yards per carry. In 2023, Leonard rushed for 352 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 6.1 yards per attempt.

In 20 starts, Leonard has rushed for 1,051 yards and 17 touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards per rush. 

He was on fire as a runner to start the 2023 season before an ankle injury against Notre Dame slowed him down. Leonard rushed for 326 yards in the first five games, scored four times on the ground and was averaging 7.0 yards per rush. He went for 98 yards (12.3 YPC) in an upset win over Clemson, rushed for 97 yards (7.5 YPC) and two scores in a win over Northwestern and 88 yards (4.9 YPC) in a last second loss to the Irish.

Leonard was on pace for 848 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground prior to the injury.

Combine that with Denbrock's leadership, and track record developing and enhancing strong ground attacks, and it's easy to see why there is so much excitement about the Notre Dame offense heading into the 2024 season.

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