Deland McCullough inherited a pretty good situation at Notre Dame.
The new Irish running backs coach didn't get the opportunity to coach NFL-bound Kyren Williams, but the 2022 Notre Dame depth chart still included three running backs previously rated as four-star recruits and ranked inside the Rivals250 in their respective classes — Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Jadarian Price — and a former three-star recruit who showed flashes of being underrated as a freshman in Logan Diggs.
Rather than remaining content with the horses at his disposal, McCullough went out an added another running back to the stable. On Friday afternoon, four-star running back Gi'Bran Payne announced a commitment to be a late addition to Notre Dame's 2022 recruiting class.
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Payne and McCullough have history. As the running backs coach at Indiana, McCullough recruited Payne to play for him. Payne liked what he heard, so he gave the Hoosiers his verbal commitment in July and signed in December.
But after McCullough left Indiana for Notre Dame, Payne started to have second thoughts. In March, he asked for and received a release from his National Letter of Intent to consider other opportunities. Payne visited Kentucky before making his official visit to Notre Dame last weekend.
What exactly the Irish are getting in Payne is a bit of a mystery given his recent injury history. The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Payne missed significant time as a junior with a high ankle sprain and played in fewer than six full games as a senior at Cincinnati La Salle.
If anyone should have a good read on Payne's potential, it should be Notre Dame's staff. Not only do the Irish have familiarity with Payne through McCullough, the Irish have a lot of Cincinnati-area ties with head coach Marcus Freeman, cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens and recruiting director Chad Bowden previously working for the Cincinnati Bearcats. Recently hired analyst Jeremy Larkin also played running back at La Salle, where he graduated in 2016.
Notre Dame was interested in Payne early in his high school career when he became a bit of a national recruit. As a sophomore in 2019, Payne turned 77 carries into 790 yards and nine touchdowns on the way to an OHSAA Division II state championship victory at La Salle.
As a junior, Payne managed only 235 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns, 181 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. He followed that up with 274 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns and 177 receiving yards as a senior.
Rivals ranked Payne as the No. 21 running back in the 2022 class and the 14th-best prospect in Ohio.
“He’s small and explosive,” Prep Football Report recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said of Payne. “He has good vision and balance. He’s the best running back in Cincinnati and southwest Ohio in the 2022 class.”
In between his injury-riddled football seasons, Payne won a state championship on the track as a junior. Payne's 4x100-meter relay team at La Salle took home the title with a time of 41.64 seconds. According to Athletic.net, his best personal time in the 100-meter dash last season was 11.24, which isn't that fast. The state championship in his division was won with a 10.47.
Prior to Payne's junior track season, he narrowed his focus to five schools: Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, Northwestern and Penn State. The Irish weren't pursuing Payne that heavily under former running backs coach Lance Taylor, so that interest didn't materialize any further.
Payne's commitment increased Notre Dame's 2022 class to 22 scholarship recruits. The Irish jumped ahead of Penn State to No. 6 overall in the 2022 class rankings.
Even with Payne joining Notre Dame's roster next season, McCullough isn't expected to change his approach to the 2023 class. He inherited a commitment from four-star running back Sedrick Irvin and has been pushing to add another. Four-star recruit Jayden Limar and three-star recruit Jeremiyah Love are the leading candidates to this point.
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