Dexter Williams Waited His Turn In Notre Dame’s Backfield
One year ago at this time, it looked like Notre Dame’s freshman running backs would not be needed in their first year on campus.
Just the opposite turned out to be true.
Following the suspension and subsequent transfer of Greg Bryant and season-ending injury to Tarean Folston, the Irish suddenly faced a depleted backfield with a receiver turned ball carrier in C.J. Prosise plus freshmen Dexter Williams and Josh Adams.
Among the freshman duo, Adams received the more extended playing time from the coaches and responded with 835 yards and six touchdowns. Williams expects his breakout to come this fall for the 2016 Irish.
“Really, I wasn’t too focused on the difference between Josh playing and me playing,” Williams said. “At the same time, he’s a different style of runner and I’m a different style. He brings something different to the table. As a running back group, we all bring something different to the table so at the same time it was his time to step up and he stepped up big time. When it’s my time, I plan on stepping up big time as well.
“It just made me humble myself a lot more. I was able to actually experience not playing every down, every second of the game. It was something that humbled me and made me want to get better and improve on my craft and work harder, and that’s what I’ve been doing this whole spring since I got here.”
The sophomore rushed the ball 13 times for a team-best 43 yards and a score in the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday, after which head coach Brian Kelly named his as one of the most impressive performances from the spring exhibition.
“I think what we like about Dexter is his physical inside downhill running,” Kelly said. “That to me is where he’s impressed us in the spring. We’ve had some goal-line, short-yardage runs where when he gets his pads down he’s an explosive inside runner. That’s where right now he’s impressed us the most.
“Look, we love Josh Adams and the way he hits the ball outside. We like Folston’s shiftiness inside, but we really like the way Dexter has shown himself to be explosive, downhill in some goal-line, short-yardage [situations]. … I’m not trying to make him sound like a 250-pound back, but he’s been very explosive and downhill with his pads down when he’s assertive, and he knows what he’s doing.”
“He’s naturally a really fast guy,” running backs coach Autry Denson added. “That’s just God-given speed. He can run. Also he’s a better pass catcher than he was when he got here and he’s getting a lot more comfortable in there so you can see some things.
“I think his attention to detail, Dexter plays with a high level of attention to detail and his want to. Whatever he’s not good at, he really wants to be good at and that’s synonymous over the group.”
Notre Dame possesses a solid cadre of running backs entering the fall, a group that will be boosted by the summer arrivals of freshmen Tony Jones and Deon McIntosh.
Just like last fall, however, Williams is only worrying about himself.
“Last year, I see it as a learning experience for my first year in college football,” Williams said. “It didn’t go as I expected it to go, but at the same time I’m humble and learning from my mistakes, learning from others and seeing what others have done like Josh and Tarean and C.J. Prosise. It’s really a big learning experience.”