Notre Dame is back up to one running back in the 2023 class thanks to the addition of four-star prospect Jayden Limar today. The 5’11”, 190-pound Washingtonian joined the class less than a week after Sedrick Irvin Jr. backed off his September pledge to the Irish, presumably as the new staff made it clear they were going to recruit other prospects over him. Limar is one of those prospects; a look at his junior highlights makes it easy to see why. He visited Notre Dame last fall for a game and came back this spring, with, you know, a few minor changes having taken place, during the Blue-Gold weekend. At that point the Irish apparently took a commanding lead for his services and, true to form in the Marcus Freeman era, never let up.
Also, for those of you who care about such things, Limar is the tenth Irish commitment in this cycle who holds a Michigan offer. One single solitary Michigan commit holds a Notre Dame offer – Florida linebacker Raylen Wilson, who has official visits to Georgia and Florida scheduled over the coming weeks. I present this information without further commentary.
(Psst… If you don’t care about making Michigan look bad, are you really in the right place?)
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9062 rating), #254 overall, #15 RB, #4 in WA
On3 Consensus — 4 star (89.92 rating), #265 overall, #16 RB, #4 in WA
The 247 Composite is based on a proprietary algorithm that combines the 247, Rivals, and ESPN rankings. The On3 Consensus is similar, but also includes On3’s own rankings.
247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), #246 overall, #11 RB, #4 in WA
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #241 overall, #12 RB, #3 in WA
ESPN — #256 overall, #17 RB, #4 in WA
On3 — 3 star (89 rating), NR overall, #29 RB, #5 in WA
Friend of the Stripes Jamie Uyeyama does the recruit evaluations for ISD, and we trust his evals as much as anyone’s. So while the 247 Composite and the On3 Consensus don’t factor in ISD evals, we put a lot of weight on them ourselves.
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (90 rating)
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame, Limar holds offers from Arizona State, Miami, Michigan, Oregon, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, and Washington, among several others.
Highlights
Limar is surprisingly hard to bring down for a kid who doesn’t profile as a power back. I felt like Vizzini watching this – “He didn’t go down? Inconceivable!” Seriously, he’s an absolute nightmare to tackle; play after play, into the boundary, to the field, up the middle, he’s stepping out of low tackles and driving through high tackles and stealing guys’ souls (check the 0:38 mark) and just generally being a pain in the butt to get to the ground. He’s an outstanding receiver, whether in traffic on that screen play they ran over and over (hey, if you’re not going to stop it…) or on wheel routes where he knows he’s going to take a hit from the safety. Doesn’t matter, it’s his ball. He shows plus wiggle in tight spaces, somewhat reminiscent of Lee Becton – you can’t explain how you missed, because he was there, and you were there too, and then he wasn’t there anymore. He’s does a good job setting up blocks and seeing cutbacks, and is decisive when he sees what he likes. I think his long speed is okay, maybe something he can improve, but that’s the only real complaint I have. He looks like a pretty complete back.
Impact
The Irish have five backs on the roster right now in junior Chris Tyree, sophomores Logan Diggs and Audric Estime, and freshmen JD Price and Gi’Bran Payne. Tyree will almost certainly be gone after the upcoming season, but beyond that there’s very little certainty about who will have what role in the offense. Diggs and Estime both flashed in live action as freshmen and Price flashed in spring practice. Payne is a guy that Deland McCullough really likes, signing him at Indiana and then taking him as a transfer at Notre Dame. There are indications that the staff would like take at least one more back in this class, most likely speedster Jeremiyah Love, and if lightning strikes on five-star Richard Young’s official visit next month they would gladly take three backs. That’s a lot of backs, and it’s hard to see all of them staying on campus, just as it’s hard to know how any individual guy fits into the picture.
All that said, Limar’s completeness gives him a very interesting type of potential. I think he’ll have a chance to make his mark on the field, even if it might not happen right away. He strikes me as a guy who can be a reliable, high-volume contributor on any team.
Welcome to the Irish family, Jayden!
“At that point the Irish apparently took a commanding lead for his services and, true to form in the Marcus Freeman era, never let up.”
Wish that were true of the on the field product during the MF era thus far.
CALM DOWN GUYS
Also, for those of you who care about such things, Limar is the tenth Irish commitment in this cycle who holds a Michigan offer.
Not sure if my point there was clear, lol. The key takeaway is that we’re leading them 10-1 on the trail this season, which has caused a severe bout of existential angst in their fan base.
I got it, it was my fav line from the article, I just could’ve chosen a better gif. In this one, Travolta is looking around 18S for anyone that *doesn’t* care about such things!
“Tyree will almost certainly be gone after the upcoming season”
If he stays healthy all season and fills the lead back role I expect him to, yes, very sure.
Big ifs ?
Health is of course the big question for him. If he can stay active all year, I think he’s gone. There’s no reason for him to hang around given (a) the shelf life of NFL RBs and (b) how crowded the RB room is getting. Sticking around for a senior year where he would be in at least something of a time share with all those other guys wouldn’t make much sense. His sub-4.4 speed is going to enthrall some front office enough to draft him even with the turf toe, hammy, etc. issues he’s had.
And to be fair, they should be enthralled – I think a lot of ND fans have kind of slept on how good he can be. He’s better between the tackles than people think and he’s a nightmare in space.
I would also add that the staff is certainly recruiting the position like they think he’ll be gone.
The staff can and should be recruiting the position like everyone worth a damn will be gone after 3 years, because frankly anyone worth a damn should be.
Agreed. Also, again, worth noting that if Tyree doesn’t jump this is what the 2024 RB group would look like:
I think there’s a decent chance we’ll land Love and a significantly longer chance we’ll land Young, but even without Young that is a very crowded RB room. Put it this way – somebody is definitely leaving if that’s the room, whether it’s Tyree or someone else.
YES! I used to drink the 4 year development get a great senior year kool-aid, but I’ve flipped my position: get immediate starter talent and expect only 3 seasons.
I think you over rate him. IMO he goes down quite easily. Not only is health an “if”, but him being the lead back is too. It might not be a good sign if he is the #1 guy.
Yeah, based on available information I would say the odds Tyree is never on a 53-man NFL roster are currently much higher than he leaves for the NFL after his junior year.
Sigh. Ok man. I literally disagree with everything here. There is zero question that if he’s healthy he’ll be the lead back. Zero. Does he break tackles like Kyren? No, but nobody does. He’s a lot faster than Kyren too, so you win some you lose some.
As to the notion that it’s a bad thing if he’s the #1 back, I think it’s you underrating his production, not me overestimating his potential. He has almost three times the number of touches in his career that Diggs has (161-58). He has averaged almost a yard and a half more per touch than Diggs has (6.35-4.93). I love Diggs and I think he has a bright future, but Tyree doesn’t deserve that erasure. Estime has seven career touches, which isn’t even worth digging into.
I will just about guarantee you that if he posts a 1,000 yard season he’s gone.
Underrating his production, what production ? Last year, 56 carries 222yds. 4.0 avg. 1TD. He’s had 3 games with over 10 carries, in his career. The only year they played behind the same offensive line, Diggs edges him in every category, except carries 56-52. Certainly Diggs needs to improve too.
I didn’t say “he doesn’t break tackles”, he doesn’t. I said “he gets knocked down easily”, he does. Is he fast and a HR threat ? Yes. An every down back? Not that I’ve seen. He needs to improve quite a bit to become that.
“There is zero question that if he’s healthy he’ll be the lead back.” Mostly due to him being the only upperclassman and Williams taking the carries from everyone last year.
I’ll stand by “It might not be a good sign if he is the #1 guy.”
FWIW, I’m right between you two: I think he’ll be the 1A guy this year (if Diggs stays on the team), but also I do not see him as somebody who, at this rate, will ever get drafted.
If Diggs stays on the team? *groan* not sure i want to know what i missed
He posted a picture somewhere in an SC uniform. From what I’ve heard it means nothing. He did just have shoulder surgery in April. 4-6 months to come back from that.
Yeah, the injury i knew about, but hadn’t heard about the pic. Sounds like it would have to be nothing though, right? Other schools wouldn’t be allowed to talk to him if he wasn’t in the transfer portal…and if he was someone would’ve reported on it.
“What production?” I really think you should dig into the numbers a little more.
First, they didn’t play behind the same OL. Tyree had almost 2/3 of his carries behind the bad early season OL while Diggs logged five consecutive DNPs. When Tyree’s turf toe issue flared up, Diggs got his opportunity – behind the better OL and against the softer part of the schedule. He put up 123 of his 230 yards in consecutive games against Virginia and Navy. His other 35 carries went for 107 yards. He had 6 catches for 56 yards and 1 TD.
I love Diggs and I look forward to seeing big things from him, but his work last year is worth a closer look. It’s not as simple as “he had 8 more yards than Tyree, he’s the better back.” Plus you’re missing the receiving production – Tyree posted 24/256/2 vs. Diggs’s 6/56/1. And excluding 2020, which when added in gives Tyree 3-4 times the production of Diggs.
He’s not going to play the same role for the offense that Williams did, no question. They’re different players. He’ll lose touches to the other backs, to Styles, to Lenzy. I maintain though that I would be very surprised if, assuming he’s healthy all season, he doesn’t lead the team in carries. And that anyone who thinks the odds aren’t heavily in favor of him going to the NFL with a 1,000 yard season is kidding themselves.
I really wasn’t concerning myself with where he ends up after this season. I realize that was the original point of discussion. My comments were about what I’ve seen from him so far. You have been more “impressed” than I.
Yes, he’s tough to bring down, there are many plays on his film where I was surprised he was able to stay on his feet. This is a very good athlete. He’s quick and decisive. He’s an exceptionally good pass receiver.
Umm, which is it? This comment you say he’s tough to bring down, but just above you’re calling him overrated and he goes down quite easily…did your morning coffee happen between those two comments? 😛
Talking about two different people. The replies are about Tyree. The other Limar.
Gotcha…the thread was tough to follow…because i was in the middle of my coffee lol. Sorry ’bout that.
No problem. When I went back, I noticed exactly what you pointed out and then I saw your comment. I dumped out my coffee, just in case.
Wow… I think I got to the 4 min mark before someone tackled him. 2nd coming of Karen William’s??
**kyren
That’s a RB who always wants to speak to the manager…
Plays like the ankle-breaker at the 0:38 mark that I mentioned in the post have made others draw comparisons to Kyren too, as you might imagine. I probably should’ve called out the play at 1:48 too, which, as fun as everything else here is, is a play that really made me interested. Up the gut through heavy traffic and he just keeps breaking tackles until he’s in the end zone. Very impressive kid.
Really stoked about the RB situation since 2020.
Question: who are ya’lls favorite running backs since 2010? My short list is theo riddick, josh Adams, and kyren. Between the three, I give the tie breaker to riddick, as he clutched up on that 2012 squad several times over. I think kyren may be the better player, and josh Adam’s monster 80 yarders in 2017 were a thing of beauty, but theo’s is near and dear to my heart.
Others to consider: prosise, tarean folston, dexter, Tony jones (most unlikely 84 yard td run of all time), hell even cam McDaniel for the rooters of the plucky underdog.
Cam McDaniel took carries from a dude who averaged 6.2 ypc for his career, and I will never ever let that go.
I never understood why Atkinson didn’t get more carries. He was definitely a boom or bust type runner, but he only had 10+ carries in a game 3 times. In 2 of those he averaged over 10 ypc. He also had 9 once and went over 10 ypc.
He was similar to a freshman year Josh Adams. Gladly would have taken more of that in 2013.
That’s a good point. The whole 2013 offense was perplexing.
I follow recruiting to the extent that I read all of the articles here, but not nearly as thoroughly as many others here. In this case, it seems as though we sort of encouraged Irvin to look elsewhere and then brought in a more highly rated recruit.
This is fairly new for us, right? In the past, a decommitment almost always felt like we were having to scramble for a lower rated fallback option, rather than a guy leaving because we were bringing in a higher rated player. Has this happened at all for us recently (or ever under BK)?
Happened to Jack Nickel last year at TE but aside from him, I don’t remember it happening
I don’t think we encouraged him to look elsewhere so much as we made it clear that the new staff was going to recruit over him, and at that point it didn’t make much sense for him to stay committed. Like Tyler said, it happened with Jack Nickel in last year’s class, and in a very similar way – Nickel decommitted when he was still the only TE in the class but we were very clearly pursuing Staes and Raridon, who of course eventually committed.
Michigan OL Greg Crippen in the 2021 cycle comes to mind – he “flipped,” but only after the staff basically ghosted him. Purdue WR TJ Sheffield committed without a green light to do so and, I believe, was similarly ghosted in the 2019 cycle (a cycle in which our entire WR class was Cam Hart and Kendall Abdur-Rahman, so whoops on that one).
But can he block?
A brief history of ND running backs:
Kyren Williams – Gone after 3 years, leaving 3 years of eligibility remaining.
Tony Jones, Jr. – Gone after 4 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility remaining.
Dexter Williams – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
Josh Adams – Gone after 3 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility remaining.
Tarean Folston – Gone after 4 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility remaining.
CJ Prosise – Gone after 4 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility remaining.
Cam McDaniel – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
George Atkinson III – Gone after 3 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility remaining.
Theo Riddick – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
Cierre Wood – Gone after 4 years, leaving 1 year of eligibility.
Jonas Gray – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
Armando Allen – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
Robert Hughes – Gone after 4 years, left no eligibility.
I think many of us hear about a running back leaving after 3 years and determine whether he’s good enough to do so or not.
I agree with Brendan that IF Tyree is healthy and the starter the odds of him leaving after 2022 go up tremendously, especially if he graduates.
Whether he’s “good enough” to leave early is a secondary issue but there’s a clear trend for running backs in today’s game.
Yeah, he’s either going to be the lead back and attempt to go pro, or he’s going to get passed up and transfer. The only way I see him back for 2023 is if he’s lined up to be the starter and has a season-ending injury in preseason or one of the first couple games.
Side note on recruiting: https://www.si.com/college/notredame/.amp/recruiting/notre-dame-football-recruiting-chansi-stuckey-huge-role-in-braylon-james-commitment
This certainly could help explain the lack of receiver depth we have as a legacy of Del Alexander.
Happy Memorial Day.