Kyren Williams sets his stage for the stretch run with career-defining game
SOUTH BEND — Kyren Williams burst through the injury tent’s opening as if it were a cutback lane, helmet in hand after hearing the all-clear from the training staff. He bounded up and down, like a kid on a trampoline, as he made his way to watch Notre Dame finish off the touchdown drive he left a few plays earlier.
A few moments prior, the Irish junior running back lay on the Notre Dame Stadium turf after an awkward landing on a third-quarter reception. The scene sent a hush over the stadium and, presumably, Notre Dame households across the country. Turns out, it was just a harmless roll-up. Trainers cleared him after a brief evaluation. Carry on.
“I might have been a little dramatic,” Williams said, cracking a smile. “As soon as the play was over, I knew I was going to be fine.”
A speed bump instead of a disaster. In a way, a mirror of Notre Dame itself in October.
With each game since a 24-13 home loss to Cincinnati Oct. 2, that defeat feels more like a bump in the road instead of a pothole that totaled the car. The Irish are 7-1 and winners of three straight following a 44-34 victory over North Carolina. They have a reliable offense. They have a defense that, even on off days like this one, can still create some pressure. They have a winning edge.
Those are ingredients for winning out and crashing the New Year’s Six, at minimum. There’s much to like.
Williams, though, is setting himself apart. Winning games down the stretch and in the postseason often requires a team’s best player to take over a game or make a play when pressure reaches its zenith. Williams, it seems, will be counted on in these spots as much as – if not more than – anyone else. Now with consistent blocking in front of him, his game can reach another height. And he can take Notre Dame along for the ride.
He doesn’t need to be asked to assume such additional weight. He voluntarily has a heavy plate as stands. What’s a little more on it?
Williams isn’t just a star and team captain. He’s Notre Dame’s heartbeat, its battery and its jump-starter. He has a gravitational pull about him and a vivacious spirit that imbues itself in his teammates.
“Just energy all the time,” graduate student quarterback Jack Coan said.
And, of course, Williams wields a bottomless bag of spin moves, stiff-arms and jukes. Leaning on him is a wager worthy of all chips.
Saturday, Notre Dame did so in a game it had to have and had to score a chunk of points to win. Williams answered the call, taking 22 carries for a career-best 199 rushing yards and a touchdown. He added two catches for 15 yards and a 47-yard punt return. In many ways, it was a career-defining game.
He did a lot of that work when it mattered most. His punt return set Notre Dame up in North Carolina territory and led to the Irish’s first touchdown. He started Notre Dame’s first possession of the second half with a 14-yard run, part of a three-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to retake the lead. And two drives after the injury scare, he put forth arguably Notre Dame’s premier 2021 highlight.
Notre Dame led 31-27 with 14:44 remaining when it began a drive on its own nine-yard line. The Irish went three-and-out on their prior possession and needed a score to stave off some claustrophobic feelings.
The first play was a handoff to Williams that quickly went awry. An inevitable tackle for loss, at least until Williams waved his magic wand and made the play go somewhere. Specifically, the south end zone 91 yards away. He made 180-degree change of direction to evade a tackle for loss, stiff-armed North Carolina defensive end Tomon Fox at the four-yard line and hit the open road.
“I probably haven’t seen a run like that in person,” senior safety DJ Brown said.
Williams said he knew he would score when his right arm disposed Fox. This was the play that publicly confirmed it, but he has long realized his status as a centerpiece who can elevate an entire team with his play and his mere presence.
Notre Dame hitches the trailer to Williams because he’s capable of the unimaginable. And because he’s omnipresent within in the team. That was especially the case this week, with junior safety and fellow captain Kyle Hamilton out with a knee injury. Williams didn’t deliberately assert himself more than normal with another key voice out, he said. Much like that run, it just kind of happened.
“I’m always around – I don’t care what you play, special teams, offense, defense,” Williams said. “We’re teammates. I’m trying to lead them, but in team periods, I’ll tell [junior linebacker] JD [Bertrand], ‘Let’s work this’ or [senior safety] Houston [Griffith], ‘Let’s work on this.’”
It’s nothing out of the ordinary or unique to this week, according to those around him.
“Kyren is one of the best leaders on our team,” Brown said. “He’s vocal. He shows it on the field. Even before the game, he’s like, ‘Don’t worry about all the other stuff, just do what you have to do and I got you on the offensive side.’”
Added head coach Brian Kelly: “It's pervasive. It's not only the offense, it's the defense. It's everybody that watches him play.”
That should be enough reason to hop on board. Williams is lined up to lead Notre Dame down this stretch run – on Saturdays as well as the other six days of the week. His legs and his natural disposition will carry equal weight.
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