Notre Dame Football: Running Game Primed For Success

Notre Dame football is primed for another strong year on the ground in 2017.

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With the start of Spring Practice, Notre Dame fans have a renewed interest in the 2017 Fighting Irish football team. We will review one of the best position groups on the team – the running backs. Notre Dame has a group of four running backs that include juniors Josh Adams and Dexter Williams, redshirt freshman Tony Jones Jr. and freshman C. J. Homes.

Josh Adams has already blazed a tremendous path in his young career. The 6’ 1” 220 lb. back from Warrington, Pennsylvania played in all 13 games as a freshman and set a group of Notre Dame freshman rushing records. They include: Most Single Game Rushing Yards (168 vs. Stanford), Most Single Season Rushing Yards by a Freshman (835), Most Single Season Average Per Rush (7.1), Most Single Season 100 Rushing Yards Games (4).

In his sophomore season, Josh played in all 12 games, had 158 rushing attempts for 933 yards, an average of 5.6 yards per rush and five touchdowns. Josh had a severe leg injury his senior year in high school, and Notre Dame hung with him all the way to Signing Day. This speaks well for Notre Dame and the coaching staff, and Josh’s play has rewarded them.

Dexter Williams was a higher rated recruit than Josh Adams coming out of high school, but he has played behind Adams. Dexter appears to a have a breakout season coming up because he has improved the way he plays. He played in six games last year, and he ran the ball 39 times for exactly 200 yards, which is an average of 5.1 yards a carry and three touchdowns. He was a Miami (Fla) commit, but he de-committed and signed with the Fighting Irish on Signing Day.

Redshirt freshman Tony Jones Jr. will be hard to hold back this season. The 5’ 10” 225 lb. running back is from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He looks to be a power runner who will run between the tackles. He was a four-star back who was listed as the 10th best back in the country by Scout.com. He selected Notre Dame over Miami(Fla.), Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, North Carolina and others.

The last running back recruited by the Fighting Irish is C.J. Holmes. The 6’ 2”” 200 lb. back from Cheshire, Connecticut was a four-star recruit who was recruited by Alabama, Tennessee, Michigan, Penn. State, UCLA, and others. C.J. was probably the best recruiter in the Class of 2017. He contacted most of the recruits who received a Notre Dame offer and is a beloved by other members of the class. The Fighting Irish would like to redshirt C.J. this season so that he can maintain an extra year of eligibility.

Josh Adams appears to be the starter at running back, but he will share the duties with Dexter Williams. Dexter will compliment Adams as Notre Dame, over the past few seasons has had two running backs do a majority of the rushing. Look out for Tony Jones Jr. This four-star back will find playing time because he is too good a runner to be left out.

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This Notre Dame running group is and will be one of the best running groups in the country. With Chip Long’s new offensive system, which is based on running the football with play action, this group should thrive. There is optimism that this will be a renaissance season for Notre Dame and the running backs will lead the way.