Notre Dame Football: Examining the running back position for the Irish
By Matt Clark
Chris Tyree
There is a lot of hype surrounding the newest running back on the Notre Dame football team, Chris Tyree. After all, Tyree was ranked as a 5-star recruit by 247sports and one of the top recruits in the 2020 recruiting class.
There is a ton to like about the 5’10” and 180-pound Tyree. He profiles as an electric playmaker in the future out of the backfield for the Fighting Irish. Tyree was ranked as the number one overall all-purpose running back recruit in the nation in 2020 because of his abilities to take it to the end zone any time he has the ball in his hands. He profiles extremely well in the receiving game as well.
Despite all of the hype surrounding their new running back, fans of the Notre Dame football team should temper expectations as he is still a true freshman and he will likely see limited action in specific offensive formations. That said, Tyree is the type of player that the Irish could use in big games as a threat to opposing defenses.
The fact that veterans like Armstrong and Flemister are firmly entrenched ahead of him, the reduced time for a preseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Brian Kelly has been historically reluctant to give a lot of playing time to true freshmen, it is unlikely that Tyree will see the bulk of the carries for Notre Dame.
That said, Kelly may choose to utilize the electric Tyree in a similar fashion to how he used true freshman phenom Kyle Hamilton in the defensive secondary last season. If Tyree can produce in a similar fashion in limited action on offense like Hamilton did for the Notre Dame defense last season, Irish fans will be ecstatic.