Notre Dame football: Top-25 players of the Brian Kelly era

Notre Dame Football: Top-25 players of the Brian Kelly era

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leads his team out of the tunnel before the game against the Clemson Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images) /

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Notre Dame football running back Josh Adams. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame Football: Top-25 players of the Brian Kelly era

14. Josh Adams, RB, 2015-17

480 rushes, 3,201 rushing yards, 20 rushing TDs, 41 receptions, 336 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs

Perhaps it is his lack of a great NFL career, or maybe the fact everyone tries to forget the 2016 team, of which he was the main bright spot, but it seems Josh Adams is almost forgotten as one of the great Irish running backs today. In particular, the 2017 season saw Adams run for 1,430 yards.

That’s the second-most in a single season by any running back in Notre Dame history, only seven yards behind Vagas Ferguson in 1979.

A captain at Notre Dame, Adams is fifth all-time for rushing yards in the history of the program in his career. He also has the most yards for a single game by a freshman in Notre Dame history, with 168 against Stanford.

Meanwhile, his 229 yards against Boston College are the fourth-most by a Notre Dame running back in a single game. Adams played at a time when Notre Dame was struggling to find consistent quarterback play, so the Irish would lean on him to a near excessive amount, but he could take it, and he thrived at Notre Dame.

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