Notre Dame football: Five potential breakout players on offense in 2020
By Matt Clark
3. Chris Tyree
Last season, the running back position was not as dynamic as it has been in the past for the Notre Dame football team. Tony Jones Jr. performed admirably as the lead back for the Irish but he did not present the type of threat in the running game that defenses had to gameplan for.
Jafar Armstrong was expected to be the lead back last season, operating in a dual-threat role in the running back position. Jones and C’Bo Flemister were expected to be the complimentary power backs to the speedy Armstrong. However, Armstrong would be forced out of the lineup due to a torn abdominal muscle and would not be overly effective upon his return. As a result, the Notre Dame football team struggled to find consistency and lacked a home run threat in the running game in 2019.
Leading up to the 2020 season, it appears that the Irish running game is in much better shape than it was last season in terms of both depth and game-changing players. Currently, the Irish have a depth chart at running back that includes, Armstrong, Flemister, Stanford transfer Trevor Speights, Jahmir Smith, Kyren Williams, and true freshman Chris Tyree.
It is anticipated that Armstrong will play the dual-threat role in the running game early on with Speights and Flemister splitting the power back duties. However, there is an excellent chance that 5-star recruit Chris Tyree makes his presence felt and becomes an integral part of the Notre Dame offense at some point during the 2020 season.
Tyree was a highly sought after recruit, who was ranked as the top all-purpose running back, second overall running back, and 43rd overall recruit in the 2020 recruiting class. Despite having offers from blue-chip football programs such as Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma, Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan (among others), Tyree would ultimately decide to commit to the Irish, giving the Notre Dame football program one of the best running back recruits in recent history.
After a down season as a high school senior, where he rushed 71 times for 655 yards and 13 touchdowns and had 13 receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns Tyree saw his recruiting stock slip a bit. However, Tyree had suffered a severe high ankle sprain that limited his playing time and seriously hampered his explosiveness.
As a high school junior, Tyree managed to rush 177 times for 1,446 yards and 11 touchdowns, while reeling in 23 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown. When healthy, Tyree is as explosive as any running back in the nation.
The past two years, Tyree has held the title as the fastest high school football recruit in the nation, running a sub 4.4 second 40-yard dash time. After following a rigorous offseason strength and conditioning program put forth by the Notre Dame staff, Tyree has stated that he feels even faster than he was in high school.
At only 5’10” and 190-pounds, Tyree still has some room to put on mass before he will likely gain consideration to be an every-down back. Luckily the Notre Dame football team boasts a stable of solid running backs that will allow him to be eased into the offensive scheme.
That said, it is highly unlikely that Brian Kelly and Tommy Rees won’t try to utilize the elite speed and skills that Tyree possesses, even as a true freshman. It is also unlikely that Tyree chose Notre Dame over the other blue-chip programs if he thought he wouldn’t make an immediate impact.
It is likely that Notre Dame uses Tyree in a similar fashion to how they used the uber-talented Kyle Hamilton last season as a true freshman on defense. That is to say that they will likely carve out a number of plays designed specifically for Tyree on offense to allow him to utilize his explosive playmaking ability. However, he is unlikely to see a lion share of the time at running back. That said, Hamilton was certainly a difference-maker for the Irish last season despite not being a starter and seeing limited action in sub-packages on defense.
It has been floated that Notre Dame may also opt to utilize the speed and elusiveness of Tyree in the return game. While Tyree is likely to only receive 10-15 touches per game at the most, that would be 10-15 plays where defenses must be keenly aware of his whereabouts on the field because of his ability to produce a big play for the Irish. Regardless of how Chris Tyree is used in 2020, because of his big-play ability, he has a good chance to become a breakout player for the Notre Dame football team next year.