Notre Dame Remains In A Strong Position At Running Back

If you're looking for someone to tell you Logan Diggs leaving Notre Dame isn't a loss, or that Diggs wasn't actually that good, you've come to the wrong place. Diggs is a good football player and someone I've been high on for some time. If it were up to me there is no doubt Diggs would be a player I would want on the team in 2023.

Diggs is a loss, but even without him on the roster there is no doubt that Notre Dame will still head into the 2023 season with the potential for an outstanding backfield. Diggs leaving means one less talented player, but the bigger impact is there is less production in the backfield. 

Diggs rushed for 822 yards and accounted for 1,033 yards of offense last season. He was a known, you knew what he and Audric Estime would combine to be one of the best one-two backfield tandems in the country. It was a known.

Without Diggs the Irish do face a bit more uncertainty, but the Irish will still have a very talented running back room. We don't know exactly how things will look, but the players in the competition are talented, and Notre Dame will find ways to replace Diggs.

MORE FROM ESTIME

Diggs was going to be part of a strong one-two punch, but there was little doubt that Estime was emerging as the top of that ticket. Estime led the Irish in rushing yards (920) and rushing touchdowns (11) last season despite having fewer carries than Diggs.

Estime and Diggs would have been a dynamic one-two punch, with the pair averaging 26 carries per game last season, and when you count the production from Chris Tyree the backs averaged a little over 33 carries per game. 

Estime is a year older and he's trimmed down a bit this offseason, which should allow him to show a bit more endurance than he did last season. It seemed at times as though Estime would wear down if he got too many consecutive carries, but he should be in better position to carry more of the load. That load won't come anywhere close to 33 carries per game, with 17-18 per game being a more realistic expectation.

Of course, Estime could take on more of a load in some of the bigger games, but being a 20+ carries per game guy week after week could result in him wearing down, something Notre Dame cannot afford. That means other backs will need to step up, and other aspects of the offense must take on more responsibility.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRICE

The star of the spring of 2022 was then freshman Jadarian Price, who finished the spring off with an impressive 51-yard touchdown catch and run. An Achilles injury over the summer ended his freshman season and cost him this spring, but expectations are that Price will be ready to play in the fall.

It might be tough for Price to take on a roll with the volume we saw from Diggs or Estime this past season. Achilles injuries can be tricky, but Price is on pace to be healthy by the time the season starts. 

Price getting back to full speed is a key to the Notre Dame backfield reaching its full potential this season. The rising sophomore was an explosive runner prior to his injury, but he's also a strong athlete that can be an every down back. A healthy Price gives Notre Dame a much different type of complement to Estime. You would have a true "thunder and lightning" combination as opposed to the Estime-Diggs combo, which was two players with more similar styles.

An argument could be made that a healthy Price gives Notre Dame an even better one-two punch than what it had last season with the Estime-Diggs duo. There is no doubt that Diggs is a talented runner, but Price out-played him last spring and is a more dynamic athlete. It's not an argument that is about Price being better than Diggs as it is about Price providing a better complementary style to Estime.

We won't know if Price is healthy until we get to the fall, so this whole discussion could have a bit of an asterisk. But Price has a chance to be an impact player in the Notre Dame offense if he does in fact get back to full speed and good health.

PAYNE EMERGENCE CONTINUES

One reason for the rise in confidence at running back is the spring emergence of sophomore Gi'Bran Payne. With Diggs not practicing for much of the spring, Payne was able to step into the void, and he shined. Payne was outstanding in the two open practices and his 30-yard run in the Blue-Gold Game was one of the offensive highlights.

Payne is a well built young runner with impressive shiftiness and good speed. He brings an intriguing run-pass dynamic to the offense and his style of play has some similarities to Diggs, but he brings a bit more juice. He isn't as big as Diggs and doesn't have the same power, but he does complement Estime quite well.

Payne has always been a talented runner, which is why Notre Dame offered him when he was a sophomore and why Deland McCullough wanted him to join him at Notre Dame after Payne originally signed with Indiana. Clearly the Irish running backs coach has a lot of faith in Payne's ability and character.

The concern, however, was that Payne missed all but one game of his junior season with an injury, and he was banged up for most of his senior season. The good news is that Payne has stayed healthy during his first season in South Bend and appears to have his injury issues behind him.

The last two sections show why there is some cause for concern at running back. From a pure talent standpoint, with no context, a trio of Estime, Price and Payne is outstanding. There is a lot of talent and big play ability in that trio. That trio, in my view, would keep Notre Dame in the conversation as one of the nation's best backfields. But the context of the injury history for Price and Payne can't be completely ignored.

LOVE IS ON THE WAY

Notre Dame will get a major reinforcement this summer when dynamic freshman Jeremiyah Love arrives on campus. Love is an elite athlete and graded out as a Top 50 national recruit on the Irish Breakdown board, and was a Top 100 recruit according to On3, 247Sports and ESPN.

Love is coming off a recent track meet in which he ran a 10.5 in the 100-meter dash, so you know what he's bringing to the offense. The St. Louis native is an explosive athlete with true home run speed. Love is big play waiting to happen in both the run game and the pass game.

He'll be just a freshman, but running back is one of the easiest positions for a freshman to transition into the college game, even in an offense as complex as Notre Dame's. Love should be able to provide immediate help to the Notre Dame backfield - and return game - the moment he steps foot on campus.

Love and Price will immediately battle for the title of most explosive running back on the roster. The addition of Love, and hopefully Price, to the backfield gives Notre Dame a lot more juice than it had a season ago.

MORE TO CONSIDER

Notre Dame has other options for carries this season. When you look at the total carries, the trio of Estime, Diggs and Chris Tyree combined for about 33 carries last season. Estime should be able to take at least half of those carries in 2023. If he averages just 17 carries a game it would only rank him 34th nationally, so it's certainly not a load that would wear him down or be too much.

That means if Notre Dame is going to run the ball as much as it did last year it would need the rest of the backs and offensive skill players to have just 16 carries per game. Some of that can go to Tyree, even if the senior stays in the slot. He can execute jet sweeps, outside zone runs in a two-back alignment and even run the occasional inside zone as a change up.

In reality, Notre Dame can keep Tyree at slot receiver and still have him as the ultimate insurance policy should further injuries arise at running back.

Notre Dame doesn't necessarily need one player to replace Diggs, or his 13+ carries per game, or the 20+ carries per game that he and Tyree averaged together. That can get split up by the three younger backs and Tyree.

PASS GAME ASSISTANCE

Notre Dame's run game, and its backs, didn't get much assistance from the pass game last season. The Irish offense ranked 98th in passing yards per game last season and 117th in pass attempts per game.

Notre Dame didn't bring in Sam Hartman to quarterback an offense that ranks anywhere close to 117th in passing attempts per game. The idea is that a more effective pass game, and a more relied upon pass game, will make the run game far more efficient. Greater efficiency keeps the rushing yards high but requires fewer attempts to get there.

There is also the aspect of the RPO game. There will be snaps this season that were guaranteed hand offs last season that will end up with the quarterback pulling the football and throwing it outside as part of the expanded RPO game for the offense.

This must be considered when discussing how Notre Dame replaces Diggs in the lineup, and his production.

Simply put, even without a back as talented and productive as Diggs, Notre Dame enters the 2023 season with a much deeper and far more dynamic offensive depth charat.