Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season project meant to resurrect discussion about the 2022 Notre Dame freshmen who retained a year of eligibility and discuss their possible impact in 2023 and beyond. The Fighting Irish were able to redshirt 17 players this past season while 1 player medically retired (Joey Tanona) and another player has transferred already to Syracuse (Jayden Bellamy).

Today we’ll take a look at a running back who flashed big-play potential in the spring before suffering an unfortunate torn Achilles.

RB Jadarian Price

Hometown: Denison, Texas
Height: 5-10 3/8
Weight: 197

247Sports Composite Ranking: 4-star, No. 17 RB, No. 32 TX, No. 201 National, 0.9207 score

18 Stripes Grade: 90.3

Murtaugh’s Blurb from the Class Grade:

He doesn’t waste time getting up-field which I love. Price is really good at getting skinny through the hole with good pad level to allow him to open up his speed to the second level. Really nice muscular and lean frame. He should stay under 200 pounds with good speed. Not a ton of wiggle to his game but makes defenders miss with speed and a quick stiff arm. I’m interested to see his speed at the collegiate level. I think he has to be a homerun type of runner to be great in college.

Price was an early enrollee last spring and has been on campus for a full year now. He ended up tearing his Achilles in June 2022 about 6 weeks prior to the start of fall camp. I wouldn’t think he’d be healthy enough to participate in spring practice this year and his status heading into August should be a big off-season storyline for the Irish.

Need at Position: Low-to-Medium

This will be fascinating to see Price’s bounce back from his injury against a depth chart where there isn’t any room for carries that aren’t 100% earned. The reports from spring were promising though and by most accounts Price was flashing really good explosiveness and speed in a role that didn’t end up being filled by Chris Tyree for the second straight season.

Will Notre Dame look to Price to fill that speed role in 2023?

Expected Spot on the 2023 Depth Chart: 4th String

I originally had Price in as 3rd string but ultimately changed that prediction. I keep going back to that Achilles injury which is one of the most difficult setbacks to come back from in football, especially for a skill player dependent so much on cutting and explosive speed.

The last time we saw Price in action he ripped off this long touchdown catch:

Zooom.

That’s fun to watch as he’s reading the blocking for about 12 yards and then turns it on at the 40-yard line. You can really see the next gear found as he out-runs safety Ramon Henderson to the pylon for the touchdown.

At times, we were really hearing some extremely positive reports about Price during the spring and summer. I swear there was even talk of him seriously challenging for some starting reps. However, it’s important to remember the media only saw 1(!) full practice in the spring and Tyree was out with an injury that day which allowed Price some more reps than usual.

Clearly, Price was doing enough to turn some heads in that limited amount of action and he also caught plenty of attention in the spring game with 104 yards on 8 receptions with the above touchdown, too.

Still, Price also ran for just 12 yards on 9 carries in the Blue-Gold Game, and was a non-factor actually carrying the ball. Coming off his injury I would expect him to remain solidly behind the 3 other running backs for 2023. Rehabilitating his Achilles and then getting back into playing shape while then impacting a pretty deep depth chart would be one of the more miraculous off-seasons in recent Notre Dame memory. I think you’d always want to leave the door open to someone who flashed such dynamic burst to pull that off, but it’s not something I’m expecting.

Things could change if Chris Tyree is no longer a running back and/or decides to transfer. To my knowledge Tyree hasn’t formally declared his intent to return or leave, and as a true junior really wouldn’t be expected to either. I would imagine with Price’s still lingering health questions, Notre Dame is still very interested in Tyree sticking around even at running back.