Notre Dame football: Kyren Williams scores first touchdown of 2021
Kyren Williams is one of the best running backs in the country, and he finally found the end zone on Sunday night for the Notre Dame football team.
Everyone knows that Kyren Williams is going to play a major role in the Notre Dame football offense this season. He’s going to be particularly important in games like this one against Florida State with multiple running backs listed as unavailable for the game, creating concerning depth issues for the Irish.
Now, Williams has his first touchdown of the 2021 season.
Williams’ first touchdown wasn’t on the ground, though, but through the air. With 7:05 left in the third quarter, Jack Coan found Williams on a check down on third and goal for a touchdown. It was Coan’s fourth touchdown pass of the game and Williams’ first score of any kind in 2021.
Williams has struggled to this point on the ground, only going for 2.9 yards a carry behind a raw offensive line that is now missing starting left tackle Blake Fisher.
This made the score 31-20 with Notre Dame leading against the Seminoles.
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Notre Dame football will continue to lean on Williams
For the Irish, making sure Williams gets his touches and has success when does so is incredibly important. It helps create an offense that is balanced and can attack defenses in a variety of different ways, and we are seeing an incredible effort from Jack Coan, who has looked nothing like a game-manager at this point.
Williams can hurt a defense in so many ways, whether they are busting it up the gut, or taking shots on the outside. If Coan continues to work the outside with the likes of Joe Wilkins Jr., Kevin Austin Jr., and Braden Lenzy like he has been tonight, backs like Williams and Chris Tyree are going to feast on defenses late.
Even in a best-case scenario, Williams likely won’t be breaking the single-season touchdown record at Notre Dame, which is held by Jerome Bettis. The Bus had 20 touchdowns in 1991, though Williams’ 13 touchdowns in 2020 are tied for 9th in a single season all-time at Notre Dame.