Notre Dame could have one of the BEST running back duos in college football in 2024

audre gme was one of the best running backs in college football last season but could Notre Dame get even more production from the running backs in 2024 that's next you are locked on Irish your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up we welcome in to lock on Irish your daily Notre Dame podcast and today is Wednesday July 3rd so happy almost 4th of July and thank you for getting your day started right here by making this your first listen of the day I'm your host Tyler rojack I graduated from Notre Dame in 2018 and now I'm a producer at Fox Sports and you can watch the show on YouTube or you can listen wherever you get your podcast if you are watching Along on YouTube please like the video below and subscribe to the channel or if you're listening to podcast please take a moment to rate review And subscribe there as well today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply uh quick reminder before we get going here we got another mailbag episode coming your way tomorrow so don't forget to send in your questions if you want to be featured on the show you can submit yours in the YouTube comments or on Twitter at lockon Irish or slide in my Instagram DMS at lockon Irish pod all right let's talk about the Notre Dame running backs because if you listened to yesterday's show I told you that I'm going to be doing a deep dive into each position group on the Notre roster uh in the weeks leading up to fall camp and the start of the Season which is coming very soon fall Camp starts at the end of this month on July 31st and the season starts at the very end of August so even though it kind of feels like we're pretty far away because there isn't a whole lot going on right now I promise you every day we're inching a little bit closer and uh the start of football is in the very near future but today I want to focus on the Notre running backs yesterday I talked a lot about the quarterbacks what I expect out of Riley Leonard the competition behind him between Steve Angel Kenny mchi and CJ Carr but today the running backs and what they're capable of this season I think um I I I think my expectations for this group are very high and as I mentioned in the cold open Audrey KES was unbelievable last year for the Irish he was their Bellow back even though before the season started running backs coach Ste McCulla said it was going to be a five-headed monster it became one monster and it was audri Esme and you could make a serious argument that he did not get the ball enough last season particularly on the final drive against Ohio state but I am not going to relive bad memories today that's just not what I'm in for so let's look at what notam has on the depth chart going into uh the 2024 season Jeremiah Love or jaran Price either one of them could be running back one I think right now love probably has the slight Edge is a true sophomore jaran price is also going to be a sophomore he's going be a richet sophomore because he missed his entire freshman season due to an Achilles injury and then behind those two guys you've got two true freshman kin young out of Texas and then anas Williams right behind him those two are going to be competing for that third running back running back spot as well and then to round out the group you've got Devin Ford who has had a very interesting career started off his career at Penn State had a really promising first couple Seasons then sort of got beat out by some younger guys and then transferred to Notre Dame when it looked like he might not even play football again has a you know pretty decent season and his uh last year with the Irish mostly was a um contributor on special teams then in the spring they switched him over to safety because they're like look you're never really going to get the ball at running back your future in football is on special teams maybe if you learn how to tackle every single day in practice you'll be even more of a threat on special teams and then Notre Dame lost Jabron Payne who was probably going to be their third running back this season to a season ending injury after he tore his ACL in the spring game so then they're like you know what De Ford we need five running backs you're going back to running back this year and that is where Notre Dame is at and I like I said I think either love or jaran Price could be the lead back I think it's probably going to depend on the game and the situation but then you've got two TR freshman right there and then Devon Ford who's a graduate senior he's been around college football forever I think he bring I think he brings a good veteran presence to the room especially considering there really aren't many veteran guys on this roster unless you include um Jabron Payne even though he's going to be out this year for an injury but my biggest takeaway about the running backs as we look ahead to this season is that I actually feel pretty confident that this group is actually going to be more productive this season than what the notan running backs were last season if you look at the returning production Jeremiah Love was the second leading rusher last year with 71 carers for 385 rush yards also added 77 receiving yards and then Jeran price was a little bit behind him 47 carries 272 rush yards and three touchdowns Jabron Payne was uh fourth on the team but he's going to be out this season then Devon Ford only had about eight carries so audre kesim was carrying the bulk of the load he uh amounted for amounted to 55% of the carries between the running backs 60% of the rush yards and 75% of the rushing touchdowns which is certainly a lot but also he was the lead back and as I said earlier he was one of the best running backs in all of college football so as great as SMA was and has as productive as he was for the Irish last season really the year before that as well I think that with audre kesme you kind of knew what you were going to get and frankly with Jared Parker as the offensive coordinator they like to run audre kesing just right in between the tackles over and over again on some occasions they're like why are you doing that nothing is really there I think back to the Louisville game when they tried to just force feed him up the middle I do think that estimate ended up getting hurt in that game as well so he wasn't his normal self but hey sometimes it works like when they gave him the ball on the last drive against Duke when they were actually trying to run out the clock and then ese broke free for a touchdown so I think with this year's group you have a bunch of different options you have Jeremiah Love who brings a bunch of different things to the table love is very explosive I think he has Elite change of Direction he's a home run threat every single time he touches the ball and I have been pretty impressed by his ability to run in between the tackles he's a tough he's more tough of a runner than I thought he had that one play in the Jersey scrimmage in Spring practice where he just ran right through Adon Schuler didn't really know that Jeremiah Love had that in his bag and it really all started to come to light in that Ohio State game last season when he was a very big part of that game which is still kind of crazy looking back at it that in Notre Dame's biggest game of the entire regular season they decided that was the game that Jeremiah Love was going to break out and they really fed him the ball he had a great game for the Irish uh he was consistently getting first downs and then I thought that would sort of be his uh launching point for the rest of the season he never really had a game quite like that the rest of the way but still the fact that he did that against a very Stout Ohio State Defense gives you plenty of reasons to be excited about the future and then there's jaran price who I think is also a home run threat not quite to the extent that Jeremiah Love was but jaran price was responsible for one of the biggest if not the biggest touchdowns last season when he broke free uh for a kickoff return for a touchdown against USC which all but sealed that game and you saw his speed on display in that one he's more of like a traditional one cut and go back whereas Jeremiah Love is a little bit more Shifty um he can just basically just make space out of thin air if there are guys on him he can do a little jump cut and all of a sudden he's got room it kind of reminds me of Kiren Williams when he'd be going through the holes he would just jump in between uh wannabe tacklers and he just find a crease and get a few extra yards and then just somehow found a way to break so many tackles despite the fact that kyen Williams is not that big of a back Jeremiah Love is actually pretty uh pretty big he added 10 pounds since his uh initial weight in Spring I believe he listed at 196 now he's 206 so all these things are really good also I want to mention too that they're both threats in the passing game but they're different threats Jeremiah Love could run in the slot like he could be a true slot receiver running routes with the wide receivers he was actually getting some reps in Spring practice with the rest of the wide receivers and the coaching staff would not allow that to happen unless they had a ton of confidence in Jeremiah Love's ability as a running back like you don't want to be taking reps away as a running back just to try some stuff out at receiver unless you know hey he's good he's got all the technique down the fundamentals now he can expand his game with the wide receivers jarian price was pretty good in the uh screen game last year I guess I'm gonna have to bring up that last drive against Ohio State again he came in for that screenplay that was blown up but hey if Blake fiser blocks jt2 allow on that play jaran price catches that ball maybe he scores a touchdown and that game is over but the fact that they had him in in that situation tells you the belief that D McCulla has uh and him to be a receiver out of the back field as well so they both bring different things to the table and I think given Love's ability as a wide receiver Notre Dame can run 21 Personnel a lot more this season than they have in the past where uh you have two running backs on the field at the same time maybe they're both lined up in shotgun in the backfield or maybe Jeremiah Love motions and he ends up outside in the slot but when you look at what this group can accomplish this season think back to 2022 for a little bit now it was a little bit different That season because Notre had three main backs they had a younger audri ese they had Logan Diggs and they also had Chris Tyree before Tyree switched to the wide receiver ese led the way with 920 rushing yards Logan Diggs wasn't far behind with 820 and then Chris Tyree had 444 yards I expect to see a similar output in 2024 from Notre Ames running backs but I think that those uh yards in um attempts that went to Chris Tyree as the third back I think those are going to be dispersed between the top two guys love and price and before that season started let's think back there so 2022 jaran price was a midyear en rolly true freshman there were Whispers that jaran price was actually the most talented back out of that entire group that includes audre kese Logan dicks and Chris Tyreek I think D McCulla couldn't help himself but praised jaran Price's game every single time it came up then he has that injury wipes had his whole season last year he was recovering from that so he hasn't really been that version of himself ever since he got on campus but I think that going into this season when he's had a full off season where he wasn't recovering from an injury I think he could be poised to have a breakout year and then you think about what Marcus Freeman has been saying about Jeremiah Love Like Freeman has been on record saying that love is going to be one of n's breakout players this fall he was the first player that came to mind along with Billy sh who's is going to be blocking for him so it's pretty pretty convenient that those two are working hand inand here and last year when Marcus Freeman was asked about a potential breakout player he said Xavier Watts I think that one worked out okay Xavier Watts went from you know like a oh this is an interesting piece converted wide receiver to safety he could be a playmaker back there he's making some plays too oh the Bronco nersi Award winner for the nation's top defensive player should we expect Jeremiah love to win the do Walker Award just because of um sort of the praise that Marcus Freeman has been giving him this offseason probably not I think that's probably a stretch but coaches don't really throw out compliments like that for nothing this stuff matters and I feel like the coaching staff has so much trust in these guys even though they don't have a ton of real in-game experience especially as the lead backs and I think that tells you a lot about what those two guys can produce this season and then behind them I expect Kon young and anas Williams to contribute as true freshman D McColl is certainly not afraid to play his young guys he played love and price last year When Love Was a true freshman price was a red shirt freshman like those guys were taking carries away from AIC Ese and those carries were deserved so I think you're going to see that this year with kadon young and anas Williams and I think overall this is really just a culmination of great recruiting by Mulla and the rest of the Notre Dame staff they are loaded with Talent depth and versatility in a way that we really haven't seen from this group in a while but for as optimistic as I am about what this group can accomplish next season I do have my concerns particularly about doing the stuff that no running back really wants to do I'll 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account and use code lockon college for $20 off your first purchase term Supply again create account and redeem code to locked down on college for $20 off downlo the game time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed so as we look at the strengths and weaknesses of this running back room in 2024 I've already hit on a few of the strength ranks already versatility love and price and even K young and anas Williams they all bring different things to the table and they're all going to have a chance to make plays this season it's been well documented now that running backs coach D McCulla has very specific roles for all of his backs that could be this is the back that we throw the screen to like jarian price last year could be the short yardage back which was Jabron Payne pass protector in between the tackles Runner Zone Duo all these different things all these different responsibilities that running backs have in a game they're all clearly defined based on what D McCulla perceives as these player strengths and weaknesses so I think that versatility from the group as a whole is a definite strength and I think that the home run threats in this group are really exciting Jeremiah love is so fast is that Breakaway speed where it sort of makes sense right like when he makes a big play you're like okay yeah I get it he just has that innate athleticism that most guys don't have like that one receiving touchdown that he had in the sunbowl like that play was broken it dead Jeremiah love makes two Jukes in a cut and all of a sudden what was a dead play is now a touchdown I mentioned jarian Price's Koff return for a touchdown against USC he also had a long run of 54 yards in the Sun Bowl as well that's pretty impressive as well and then I think kedin Young even though he's a big back you watch his highlight tape against uh some of the better programs in Texas like it was unfair what he was doing to them he would run in between the tackles and then he'd just be gone no one had a chance to catch him then anas Williams he's like one of the most productive High School backs ever he rushed for over 4,000 yards and also added 3,000 additional yards uh as a receiver as well during his entire High School career so every single one of these guys is capable of bursting off a long run or a long catch at any moment in the game another thing that I think is a big strength for this running back room and it's not something that they were able to deal with last year is that the defense is going to have to take into account the quarterback Riley Leonard in the Run game and that is going to lead to a lot more holes for the running backs to run through so even though it's not necessarily a strength of the group in terms of their ability it's going to be a strength based on what they are going to be facing in opposing defenses this year I talked about it a lot yesterday I think Riley Leonard is going to be a very important figure in the Notre a running game not just as a Scrambler but also in designed runs mik Den Brock loves quarterback power especially in short yarded situations and Riley Leonard has a ton of experience running the read option so he's going to make the right reads it's not like last year know want to run the read option and Sam Hartman would just never keep it even if it was completely there and Sam Hartman had showed uh a willingness to run in the past when he as the quarterback at Wake Forest that was not the case last year even though he did make some running plays but I think that's going to be very different this season so all of that comes together and leads to a lot of positives for the notor running backs but I do have my concerns there are some weaknesses in this group right now I think the most glaring weakness to me is I don't know which back is going to be the most trusted back there to protect the passer it's not a fun part of being a running back like sometimes when I see running backs go out there and try to block Edge rushers especially in the NFL like anytime a running back um has to block miles Garrett like that matchup is over and honestly I blame the offensive coordinator for putting that guy in that uh position but when we uh talked about kyen Williams's game we always brought up the fact that he was very very good in pass protection he had maybe the greatest single game per performance by any running back when it cames to pass protection in that game against Clemson hell even Bruce Feldman from the athletic wrote an article about it because he literally did not miss a single block in that game and it led to some huge plays including that um Avery Davis post pass from Ian book on the final drive of Regulation and that set up the game tying touchdown to send the game into overtime like Ian book is not able to make that uh make that pass if it wasn't for Kiren Williams just absolutely sticking a dude in the pocket and allowing Ian book to have a little bit more time to make the throw it's not a fun part of the job but it is very important and right now I don't think jaran price is that good at protecting the passer neither is Jeremiah Love and that was one of the best things about Jabron Payne he was probably the best in pass Pro of any of the running backs and now he is not going to be around this year uh because he's recovering from that torn ACL that leads me to another question who is going to replace Jabron Payne as the short yardage back I think it's going to be Riley Leonard but also you don't want to be using your quarterback over and over again in these short yarded situations because then he is more susceptible to getting hurt so who else is it going to be it could just be jaran price maybe Jeremiah Love they trust him more and more but like I feel like Jeremiah Love is more effective running through the tackles when the rest of the offense is split out wide and he has a little bit less guys in the Box last year audre K sometimes it didn't matter how many guys he had in the Box he could just ball over them they don't really have a back like that on the team right now kedon young even though he's a true freshman is the biggest back on the roster He's listed at 229 lbs and I think that he's definitely worthy of getting his opportunity there as the short yardage back but you know it it's it takes more than just being big one of the reasons that Jabron Payne was so good at it is he was able to find creases and holes when it didn't seem like there was one to begin with and that is a big reason why Deon McCulla trusted him in those situations but I do think the lack of a true pass protector back there is going to hurt this team at times also true freshman running backs it's like the worst thing they're at because in high school no top running backs have to protect the passer they just get the ball all the time that is something that they usually have to learn in college so I don't really trust kedon young or anas Williams to be able to do it either so it's going to be an interesting um thing for D McCulla to have to figure out I'm sure that one of these guys are going to step up and I think that you know as you get older as a running back and you realize hey if I want to have a career in the NFL I'm going to have to learn how to pass protect and I think that guys become more willing as their career goes on so maybe we see a big jump in Jan Price's ability uh when it comes to protecting the quarterback in the back field so that is something that they need to get figured out and it will be something to monitor really all season long because if love goes out there and he starts getting work they bring in price and it's just not really working then they're going to have to modify their whole offense because other teams are going to catch on to that and they're going to start being more aggressive and getting after the passer and Notre Dame already has an inexperience and a questionable offensive line so I think all of that comes together and is a legitimate concern about this group my last concern about the running backs is that they're pretty inexperienced as a whole like as optimistic as I am about the jump that jadarian price could make going into next season and uh Jeremiah Love if one of those guys gets banged up which is probably bound to happen they're running backs these guys take some big hits from some big bodies uh especially between the tackles they're probably going to miss a game here or there or maybe they're going to have to sit out a few series like there just isn't a ton of experience to go around and they might have to count on some true freshman at different points in the season and even though I'm really high in the futures of young and Williams like if it's a you know big game against Florida State or Louisville and we're getting down into the thick of it at the end of the game like does the coaching staff trust these guys to be in the right place at the right time and execute their jobs again I'm not ruling it out I'm just presenting it as a question Notre has had plenty of great backs come in and have great true freshman season remember Josh Adams I think he scored in the first two times that he touched the ball in his college career and then ended up having a really good season for the Irish in 2015 when he had to come in for tyan Fon who missed the entire season due to a torn uh ACL so it's not unreasonable to think that these guys could come in as true freshman and be big time contributors but it is a legitimate concern to have before the season starts when we just haven't seen these guys play that much again keun young Nas Williams loaded with Talent not a ton of experience J jaran Price Jeremiah love I think the ceiling is about as high as it gets with both of those guys but they've never really been the lead backs in college football so until we see it I think it's fair to have some questions about what they can do as lead backs but but still very high about what this group can accomplish this season but one of the most exciting aspects about this group is that notam has a chance to bring back every single one of their top backs next season I'll break down the future of the running back room next I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here because I do want the focus to be on this upcoming season but man when I think about the future of this no running back room it's kind of scary right because Jeremiah love with all of his ability he has the chance to be like an all-time great if he continues on the TR trory that we expect there's a reason why he was a top 50 player coming out of high school there's a reason why Notre him had a battle with Tex A&M Alabama and Big Time SEC schools to get him to come to South B and honestly when you think about Jeremiah Love's official visits I believe he's at I I know he was at the Marshall game and I think he was at the Stanford game as well in Marcus Freeman's first season as a coach and Notre lost both those games to two of the worst teams on their entire schedule and yet they were still able to get him to commit inside with Notre which is just a Tru incredible AC accomplishment thank God they did because he is so talented and he's only going into his sophomore season last season he showed burst this season I think we're going to see a lot more of that and then you think next year man what is he going to be capable of as a running back and as a receiving threat so there's plenty of reasons to be excited about Jeremiah Love jaran price could go pro after the season it'll be his third year even though he missed his entire freshman year and I honestly would not rule it out because running back is a position where you need to get to the NFL as fast as poss possible that's why pretty much throughout last season I was like yeah a GU is gone after this year he's already proven everything he possibly can in college as a running back and the more hits that those guys take at running back the less their value or the the more their value goes down so if you prove that you can be a capable back in the NFL go don't wait around don't risk taking more hits I know that some running backs don't abide by this like Blake km came back to Michigan and hey he won a national championship so it certainly worked out for him but I don't think he drastically improved his draft stock or anything like that so jaran price if he has a big breakout season this season if he rushes for over a thousand yards he could certainly Go Pro which would obviously be a loss but if price Goes Pro they have other young guys behind him I've talked about keun young 229 pound true freshman he was one of the best high school players in the state of Texas last year and the number four ranked running back in the class if Notre had not added Jeremiah Love in the class prior kedon young would have been one of the highest ranked uh running backs to commit to Notre in a really long time and then anas Williams who didn't quite have the recruiting pedigree that young did like I said he rushed for over 4,000 yards he also had over 3,000 receiving yards in High School St Louis connection aside he does really remind me of kyen Williams and the way that he runs the ball his size his sture his speed all of that he had a touchdown in the spring game so I think that tells you that the coaching staff can trust him a little bit and that they believe in him um this season and Beyond and then next year Notre is going to add two more running backs four-star running back Justin Thurman and three star Daniel Anderson neither one of these guys is ranked particularly high on the recruiting rankings and to be honest with you I'm a little surprised that Notre Dame was willing to take them so early and what I mean by that is Justin Thurman and Daniel Anderson have been committed to Notre Dame for a long time and when Notre Dame had kein young and anas Williams those guys committed very early on in the process anas Williams is the first running back he was one of the first guys in the entire class commit to notame then notame added K young a little bit later and I remember doing a show um after K young had committed and I was like one of the best parts about this is that Notre Dame is done recruiting running backs in that class now they can get a head start on the class of 225 and maybe go after some really big fish like some like top one or two running backs in the entire country given the fact that they have so much time uh and they can sort of exhaust all of their energy on going after the big fish they didn't do that as matter of fact they added Thurman and Anderson very early on in the process and I was like okay you know I'm gonna have to trust D McCall in this one and I think he has done more than enough to earn that trust from me and you as well because he is one of the best running backs coach in the entire country not just as a recruiter but as a developer of talent when Audrey kesin went to the NFL he was just he could not be more grateful for D McCulla and all the work that McCulla did for him in just two years as his running backs coach so I trust Ste McCulla I think he sees some things and these guys Thurman Anderson that I don't and also the other recruiting sites don't as well so even though I'm a little bit surprised by their ranking I I think that these two guys are going to be very good in college just based on D mulla's track record but that does make me think what's gonna happen with d McCulla like what does dyan's future look like d has been pretty open about the fact that he wants to be a head coach someday he said that was a big reason why he went to Notre Dame why he left the NFL or excuse me he left the NFL to coach at Indiana and then now he went from Indiana to Notre Dame and he said he has aspirations to become a head coach this is going to be his third year at Notre Dame and even though MCA was promoted from running backs coach to associate head coach and the running backs coach he has bigger aspirations than that it's fair to wonder if D mcau is going to be around next year because I think he's gonna have a ton of really good opportunities once these things happen like if Jeremiah Love and jaran price break out and the notan running backs shine this season like we all expect and hope them to deal McCulla is going to be one of the hottest uh names in the coaching Carousel after the season and hey that is just sort of what happens when you hire a really good staff so I think that D mcll is going to have opportunities to be an offensive coordinator maybe even a head coach which would be a bit of a shock to me to go from running backs coach to head coach uh even though he has that ahc title I wouldn't rule it out I I think he's very very good I think he's very well respected and I think he has what it takes to be a head coach in college football so if D were to leave I think that the running backs coaching position at Notre would be a very attractive role not just because of the amount of talent that is currently on the roster but you also have a head coach of Marcus Freeman who really really prioritizes the Run game he wants to run the ball more than most uh modern head coaches these days so um I feel like no matter what happens with d McCulla the future of the running backs at Notre Dame is very very bright I don't expect these guys all leave once mull leaves or anything like that and hey maybe the best case scenario is that D McCulla is like you know what I love being at Notre Dame I'm pretty content being an associate head coach and the running backs coach I've got all these studs in my room I'm just going to stick around here help out um Mike Den Brock calling the run plays and things like that and then maybe sticks around in Notre for a long time I mean they've got Den Brock and Al golden locked up for years I think that being able to retain your coaching staff every single year is a huge priority even though every single top program in the country has to deal with some attrition every single year and I think it's something that notam could be facing next year at the running back position but like I said if D does leave it's going to be a very coveted job tons of talent in the room and Marcus Freeman has shown he's pretty good at hiring running backs coach uh running back coaches he's one for one it's a th% if it were a batting percentage so uh no matter what happens with him I feel very good about the running back room and I think we're going to see a really really big season season from this group this season and the young guys uh jaran price and Jeremiah it's going to be a ton of fun man I think these guys are going to be an absolute joy to watch and I cannot wait for it to happen in just under two months but that is going to do it for me today thanks again for making lockdown Irish your first listen of the day last call for mailbag questions if you want to be featured on tomorrow's show if you've got them send them my way in the YouTube comments or on Twitter at lockdown Irish or on Instagram lockdown Irish pod also one more thing I want to mention if you're watching on YouTube it's going to be the last show that I do in this studio because I moved um I I moved into a new apartment I'm building a new setup there um I fortunately my roommates have stayed in the house uh only me and one other guy moved out so I've been able to come back use my garage Studio that I built and I'm going to build something new it might take me a little bit of time to get me to get it to where I want it to be but I think it's going to be a lot of fun it's going to look cool and uh yeah this I've done 259 episodes actually no cuz not every sing episode was done out of this room but damn near all of them were so a lot of fun memories in this room talking by myself in this closed up garage but it's going to be the last one here so next time you guys see me I'll be in a different place and then as time goes on I think it's going to be really cool I'm really excited about it oh also before you go please subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast and I'll see you tomorrow