Career Stats: Rush Hour For Notre Dame's Backfield This Spring
It’s not often a football team can lose a 1,000-yard rusher from the previous season yet still have more than 3,000 career yards returning in its backfield.
In fact, that had never come close to occurring previously at Notre Dame — until 2016. After rushing for 1,032 yards and 6.6 yards per carry in 2015, C.J. Prosise opted to not return for an eligible fifth season for the Fighting Irish. Enough talent and experience are returning in Notre Dame’s backfield that even the explosive, game-breaking Prosise wondered if his role would have been more limited as a running back. That’s part of why he opted to work on his craft in the NFL while getting paid.
“Just my uncertainty, maybe not knowing where I was going to be at, possibly being a receiver again,” Prosise told Blueandgold.com’s Andrew Owens at last month’s NFL Combine in Indianapolis on his reasons for not returning for a fifth season. “Because I really like this running back role, and I like where I’m at with it, so that’s why I want to take it further.”
Meanwhile, a couple of other future NFL aspirants return to take their game to a higher level at running back, and the quarterback position returns a combined 719 yards rushing from 2015 alone.
There used to be lamentation that head coach Brian Kelly’s offense at Notre Dame could not be fully developed when he either did not possess a running threat at quarterback (Tommy Rees from 2010-13), or had someone not fully comfortable with the zone-read looks (Everett Golson in 2012 and 2014). That is not expected to be an issue in the coming seasons.
Here is the career rushing yardage output for Notre Dame’s 2016 backfield. That’s not even including the possibility of slot men such as senior Torii Hunter Jr. (five carries for 16 yards in 2015) and sophomore speedster C.J. Sanders utilized in jet sweep/reverse/counter capacities, which is how Prosise first made his mark in 2014.
1. RB Tarean Folston, 1,378 — Last season as a junior he had only three carries for 19 yards before tearing his ACL in the opener. However, his 889 yards as a sophomore were 600 more than anyone else.
This kind of reminds us of the 1977 national champions. Prior to the season, star running back Al Hunter was dismissed from school after rushing for 1,058 yards the year prior (the first Irish back to surpass 1,000 yards in a season). Yet coming back to replace him was Jerome Heavens, who missed the final nine games of the previous season with an injury but rushed for 756 yards as a freshman two years earlier. The transition from Prosise to Folston should be similarly seamless.
2. RB Josh Adams, 835 — He set the school single season rushing record as a freshman while averaging 7.1 yards per carry. It eclipsed the 12-game mark of 786 by Darius Walker in 2004, and the 11-game standard of 756 established by Heavens in 1975. Adams' speed was especially notable given that he missed his junior year in high school with a severe knee injury.
3. QB DeShone Kizer, 520 — As a sophomore seeing action for the first time in 2015, he joined Tony Rice (1988-89) and Carlyle Holiday (2001) as the lone Irish quarterbacks to rush for more than 500 yards in a season, and his 10 touchdowns were the most on the ground in one season by a Notre Dame QB.
4. QB Malik Zaire, 290 — Despite only three career starts under his belt, the senior has displayed his read-option acumen and averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
5. QB Brandon Wimbush, 96 — In two mop-up appearances, his seven carries included a 58-yard score versus UMass.
Notes: Running back Dexter Williams appeared in seven games last season as a freshman and totaled 21 carries for 81 yards and a score. Junior Justin Brent redshirted in 2015 after making the switch from wide receiver, but he was a 1,000-yard rusher as a high school senior.