2016 Projection: RB Tarean Folston

2015 STATS: 3 carries, 19 yards, 6.3 average, 0 TD
2014 STATS: 175 carries, 889 yards, 5.1 average, 6 TD's / 18 receptions, 190 yards, 1 TD

Folston entered 2015 with high expectations after leading the team with 889 yards (5.1 per carry) the previous season. His season ended after just three carries thanks to a torn ACL in his right knee.

With Folston out, converted wide receiver C.J. Prosise led the Irish with 1,032 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns and freshman Josh Adams set a Notre Dame freshman record with 835 yards on the ground. Adams added six rushing touchdowns.

Expectations are not quite as high for Folston this season, but his return to the lineup should provide a major boost to the run game. Adams and Prosise were a dynamic one-two combination, but their games were similar and at times it limited the ability of the offense to grind out tough yards against the better run defenses.

Folston brings an element to the offense it did not have a season ago. He lacks game-breaking speed, but his elusiveness is a weapon. Folston combines patience with decisiveness and possesses top-notch agility. His suddenness as a runner and ability to make multiple cuts is hard to defend, especially when the run lanes are open. Those traits allowed him to average 5.1 yards per carry in 2014 despite his longest carry being just 26 yards.

During the second half of his sophomore season, Folston began to run with more authority, keeping his pads low and learning to drive through contact. That allowed him to become a more effective between the tackles runner, and his game took off. Over the final seven games of the regular season, Folston averaged 93 yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry. If he had maintained that pace over the entire season he would have finished the season with 1,209 yards.

Folston is an effective screen player, which is yet another way for Notre Dame to get him involved in the offense.

While Folston will never be the home run threat that Adams and Folston were in 2015, he did rip off a pair of 40-plus yard runs as a freshman.

One in which he picks up where he left off late in the 2014 season, and adds a bit more big play production to his game. It will be a season in which Folston stays healthy, in which he grinds out the tough yards and dominates in Notre Dame’s zone schemes.

A good season for Folston will be one in which he and Adams wage a season-long battle for the team rushing title, much like Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray did during the 2011 season.