Notre Dame football: Which freshman will score a touchdown first in 2021?
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team has some talented freshmen coming in for the 2021 college football season, but which player will find the end zone first.
After losing 14 players to the NFL via the 2021 NFL Draft, or as undrafted free agents, the Notre Dame football program needs their true freshmen to come in and make an impact. On defense, the group has a ton of veterans, and it will be hard for someone to come in and earn significant playing time, but there is an opportunity on offense.
Though the Irish have one of the better running backs in the country in Kyren Williams, there will be some carries leftover, even when you consider the added load taken on by Chris Tyree. In fact, true freshman Audric Estime is someone to definitely keep an eye on this summer, as he has come to South Bend looking more like a player entering his second or third year on campus.
Notre Dame football is loaded at running back
As a group, the Irish are very deep at running back, as Williams and Tyree will carry the bulk of the load, and C’Bo Flemister should have a key role as well. Both Estime and Logan Diggs are coming in as true freshmen expecting to contribute, and while a redshirt could certainly be in the cards for one of them, Estime looks like he is ready to play college football, physically, right now.
That gives the Irish plenty of weapons to choose from at the position, which is going to loom large considering the issues at wide receiver, and the fact that Jack Coan is replacing a legend in Ian Book. Williams has the talent to be an All-American this season, and Tyree can take the lid off a defense at any moment, while Estime is the kind of player who can get you those tough yards, even as a true freshman.
When all is said and done, I believe that it will be Estime who finds the end zone first among the true freshmen coming in this season. He has incredible power, and if the Irish get into the red zone early on, do not be surprised if they give the freshman the ball to pound it in for six.