Today we officially say goodbye to Kyren Williams being in the running backs room following a terrific 2 years on the field. Like many other units, this group is also welcoming their own new coach as Deland McCullough makes the short trip north from Indiana to work with the Fighting Irish. He’ll have plenty of clay to mold this off-season but also a sneaky tough job preparing the offense for life without Kyren.
Predicted 2022 Lineup
*Official 2022 roster size
DEPTH CHART
Chris Tyree, JR, 5-9 1/2, 190*
Logan Diggs, SO, 6-0, 206*
Audric Estime, SO, 5-11 1/2, 228*
C’Bo Flemister, 5th SR, 5-11 1/4, 201*
Jadarian Price, FR, 5-10, 190*
3 Questions
1) Who will be the No. 1 back? Or, are we headed towards more of a committee approach?
This feels like an off-season where many Irish fans are going to pick their camp between Tyree and Diggs to stump for their guy. It’s possible Estime makes a big jump or Price shocks the program as a can’t-miss type prospect and is a starter but this off-season very likely comes down to the 2 most experienced guys. Here’s a quick positive and negative for each:
Tyree – Big time speed in the open field with good burst. Developed into a dangerous weapon in the passing game. Getting better as a tough runner. By far the most experienced veteran. Dealt with various injuries and needs to stay healthy. Vision and elusiveness need a lot of work. He has to make it harder for defenders to tackle him.
Diggs – Really good size and footwork. Patient runner who trusts his blocks and waits to accelerate. Showed flashes of being a future No. 1 back. Around the program, seems like he has a lot of Alpha Dog characteristics. Still pretty inexperienced. Way too patient at times. Lacks the speed to be a dangerous threat for long runs.
Which camp are you in? Tyree, Diggs, or committee?
2) How much leadership can the running backs provide?
This isn’t normally something I care too much about but with Kyren Williams leaving and a new starting quarterback I do think it’s worth a few comments. As mentioned, Diggs appears ready to be the guy to speak up and be a vocal leader. Conversely, Tyree is a little less in-your-face and if he’s leading it’ll be more from a quiet leadership standpoint.
I’m interested to see who can gain the trust of the staff and meshes well with the quarterback, particularly in pass blocking and the RPO game. This seems like a big off-season for the running backs to make a big jump in all of the little things.
3) Easily over 2,000 rushing yards as a team in 2022? How much of that production is coming from the running backs?
Last year broke a 4-year streak (2017-2020) of the Fighting Irish gaining at least 2,000 rushing yards in a season as they fell short by 128 yards. Moving back to a mobile quarterback the offense should easily get over the mark in 2022 with no problem.
In 2021, the top 3 backs accounted for 1,457 yards and 18 touchdowns which doesn’t seem too bad. However, each of them didn’t even reach 5 yards per carry and as we’ve talked about often the success rate wasn’t very good at all.
If the running backs can truly step up and become weapons paired with a good running quarterback then this offense could really start to cook. If the backs struggle it’s potentially a massive problem as the quarterback will be pressured into a larger playmaking role than perhaps the staff want him to be in 2022.
Overview
We should mention that the status of C’Bo Flemister is still unknown. He remains on the official roster and may participate in spring practice but he wasn’t pictured with the running backs in a recent photograph with McCullough at a local restaurant with special guest Jerome Bettis. Given his lack of playing time last year it seems obvious he’s going to be taking a grad transfer or is seriously considering making that move.
This is potentially a really fun group with a lot to provide for the offense. You have a former big-time recruit looking to come into his own and become a star, a player coming off a promising and surprising freshman season, a tank in cleats who could give a different look in the backfield, and a smooth Texan tailback with big potential.
Still, there should be pressure on this group to be good and not let the loss of Kyren Williams affect things too much. Long term, there should be excitement for Deland McCullough recruiting for this position. However, 2022 will be an important season for him to get this group settled and ready to perform on the big stage at Ohio State in September.
Should be a committee. I know statistically 2RB sets are rare and not always as productive as other formations but hoping Rees draws up some wrinkles to get the best players on the field. With WR so depleted and lots of skill at RB, I’d love to see Tyree getting motioned into the slot, jet sweep (or fake) type misdirections to run off of, with Diggs also in the backfield.
Also with a running QB, seems like some great read option type stuff can be built around Buchner and the 2 RB’s in the same backfield.
Tyree isn’t a 20+ carry a game player like a normal bellcow RB1, but he is still a major key to the offense that should be able to provide plenty of yards. If they’re able to get him the ball in space, he will generate explosive plays and reel off huge gains (ala the great screen play design in the Fiesta bowl).
Still sticking with my theory to buy futures in Tyree and Price via fan expectation/outlook and sell on Diggs and Estime. But I hope Diggs has a great year and Estime has a role too.
As Hooks said, I agree it should be a committee approach.
Yep, I think Tyree is RB1, but 15 carries should probably be the most he’s getting in a game. Maybe less if Buchner is keeping a bunch of RPO carries and Tyree is taking hits on the fake handoff. Plus if he’s working from the slot or catching passes out of the backfield, that’s more contact he’s taking. If he’s averaging 10-12 carries per game, I think I’ll be happy.
Lenzy should also be getting action on handoffs/passes behind the line of scrimmage. If he’s getting 1-2 carries per game I’ll be happy.
Esitme is such an interesting player. I can see him being a fantastic short yardage option, but if he’s coming in on 3rd and shorts, he also needs to be able to pass block.
The rest of the carries should go to Diggs, based on the flow of the game. With our WRs, I’m guessing we will be doing plenty of running, so Diggs should get plenty of carries to keep him happy.
Try to redshirt Price if possible, but if injuries pop up, I’m fine burning that redshirt.
Good article, good comments so far.
The point about verbal leadership — I am favoring committee, but that does make it tougher for Diggs to pick up that role, and Tyree doesn’t strike me as a leader type. Granted, Kyren was special there. So I am wondering if the offensive leader has to switch? I am thinking… Michael Mayer?
Mayer for sure. I also think you need at least 2-3 verbal leaders on each side of the ball. WRs love to talk; if Lenzy is healthy, I definitely could see him in that role. Or maybe even Styles as he asserts himself as the #1 WR.
Avery Davis and Patterson are coming back. Also seems to me like Joe Wilkins is kinda inspirational as far as your talkative WR’s go.
No doubt though, it’s tough to replace so much about Kyren. Can’t just fill in his attitude and swag (kinda similar in demeanor to Kyle on the other side of the ball, really). But each team grows into its own personality as we know, and I’m sure they’ll be alright.
Sounds like ND had to do some re recruiting of Diggs. I’m not sure what that was all about but, it leaves me wondering if Estime or Price make a move what might happen. With a new RB coach, is there more of a chance for that to happen?
I saw the word “homesickness” more than once. Can’t be easy dealing with weather, academics, culture, being away from family, you name it for an 18 year old kid to go from Louisiana to a South Bend winter. Hope it gets easier for him as he gets through it a first time and comes out OK on the other side.
Especially once the season is over and you don’t have the distraction of football taking up 40 hours of your week. Then you just get those beautiful SB winters.
Great points and then add in losing your RB coach and your HC to your hometown school all within in 2 months. Easy to see why there would be some second guessing, plus I’d bet he’s received some calls/DM’s from other programs even if it’s “against the rules”.
The good news is this position group I think has a pretty high floor to start with and their lives should get even easier with OL improvement + the TB run threat at QB.
I’m probably selling stock in Tyree as a runner and buying it in the receiving game. He has the home run speed unique to the group but I think his instincts + vision are lacking and that seems like something hard to teach. I would be if you had player tracking data like the NFL his numbers in terms of rushing yards over expected based on where he gets the hand-offs, where blockers / defenders are, etc. would be below average on most plays.
Still, he’s a solid route runner and you can really screw with defenses moving him around and in the screen game. The Fiesta Bowl started with Tommy using a ton of motion from Tyree, Styles, and Lenzy to great effect, which they probably had to get away from in part because of fatigue. But I’d expect him to really stress defenses horizontally with the skill position speed, which Tyree can be a big part of.
With Diggs, expectations might be out of control but I think his potential issues are either more minor or fixable. Breakaway speed is a nice to have, not need to have, and occasionally being too patient I think he’ll figure out. I’d prefer him to end the season with more carries than Tyree, but their touches pretty close anticipating Tyree getting more receiving targets.
Heard some interesting stuff over at IB about Diggs and patience, namely that his senior film didn’t show so much hesitation, and a lot of it is due to having a very poor line to run behind. Hopefully O-line play fixes a lot.
As far as I’ve heard since his recruitment, Diggs rep was that he far too often looked for the home run in H.S….Don’t get me going on Driskell.
I think that’s fair. And no need to tell you since you wrote it, but just for general conversation the 2020 deep dive on rushing was very interesting.
Tyree had fairly similar success rate to Kyren (albeit on about 1/3 of the carries) in 2020, 46.4% to 45.2%….But Tyree got stuffed more frequently (23.3% to 14.2%), however he also almost double Kyren’s long runs (19.2% to 10.0%).
From that, in a simple way, I take it to show if the play is blocked well and if Tyree can get past the first tackler, he’s going to go a long ways. But very often he doesn’t have that ability Kyren showed so often, especially in 2021, to make the first (and second…and third) guy not get him on the ground.
Which is pretty incredible that in almost half of Tyree’s 2020 carries (42.5) it was either a play or a total bust. Big time “he’s either hitting a home run or totally striking out” type of player.
I’d like to think a little more strength on Tyree, a little more focus and experience and maybe he can improve that, but he’s clearly not going to be the consistent/steady runner Kyren was. But the good news is he also has shown more home run potential than Williams, which makes sense being as Tyree has track star speed.
https://18stripes.com/2020-deep-dive-rushing-offense/