12/3/2020 football Edit

Kyren Williams’ Sophomore Surge At Notre Dame

Lou Somogyi • InsideNDSports

Senior Editor

A couple of weeks ago, it was noted here how Michael Mayer was on the cusp of having the greatest freshman season ever for a Notre Dame tight end since the start of freshman eligibility in 1972.

The standard belongs to Kyle Rudolph in 2008 when he started all 13 games, played almost every down and snared 29 passes for 340 yards (11.7 yards per catch) and two touchdowns in the 13 games of a 7-6 campaign.

Notre Dame sophomore running back Kyren Williams versus Boston College on Nov. 14, 2020 — Williams could become the sixth sophomore running back at Notre Dame to reach 1,000 yards rushing as a sophomore. (ACC/Notre Dame Athletics)

Mayer has become a mainstay there, leading the position in snaps each of the last five weeks (an average of 52), and now has one more than junior Tommy Tremble overall (394 to 393). Moreover, with 25 catches for 301 yards (12.0 yards per catch) and two scores, he is well on pace to eclipsing Rudolph’s marks with hopefully four more games to play.

So the next topic is Kyren Williams. Is he producing the best sophomore season ever by a Notre Dame running back?

Who would have thought in August we’d even have this discussion after Williams debuted with 26 yards rushing as a freshman last season while getting redshirted?

Yet currently he is second in the ACC with 901 rushing yards (100.1 yards per game) — behind only Virginia Tech’s Khalil Herbert’s 924 yards — at 5.6 yards per carry with 12 touchdowns. Even Williams’ childhood idol, NBA superstar LeBron James, has heralded him recently on Twitter.

For good measure, Williams is third on the team in receptions with 21 for 235 yards (11.2 yards per catch) and another score, and his pass blocking/blitz pickup, especially in the upset of then-No. 1 Clemson Nov. 7, earned the 5-9, 195-pound dynamo plaudits.

“You have to have the bigger heart no matter how smaller or bigger you are,” Williams said. “I really look at pass blocking like I’m guarding somebody in basketball. I just try to stay low, move my feet and not let them run through me — and you’ve got to work your hands too.

“You’ve got to have really good hands and be able to lock on that person. It definitely takes practice, and confidence is the biggest thing.”

While acknowledging he would not have guessed he would be in this position so soon, Williams did offer that “no one’s going to out-work me,” which included running “gassers” in the preseason after practices. Beyond the tangible on-the-field stats, Williams’ greatest contribution has been a Tremble-like attitude of “hard-nosed, downhill physicality. I try to play like that every game, every single down.”

Like Tremble, he has brought an infectious personality of fearlessness.

“My parents have always taught me to be a leader,” Williams said. “Ever since I’ve been playing sports I’ve always had that natural ability to lead, no matter what it is. People just look to me to bring that energy and that juice.

“I feel like every day now at Notre Dame I have to bring that juice, I have to bring that energy for everybody. From there, that’s contagious.”

And a new season with playoff fever is just beginning, especially with the first semester having ended on Nov. 20.

“With classes being out, I feel like that’s the best thing as a football player here at Notre Dame,” Williams said. “The classes, they’re really hard, but now that they’re gone we’re able to be in the [football] building more. I know personally that I’ve been able to go to treatment every day no matter … I’m not even hurt.”

Against Syracuse this Saturday, Williams could become only the sixth sophomore at Notre Dame to produce a 1,000-yard rushing campaign. Here is the Who’s Who of the others (including bowl games):

Allen Pinkett (1983), 7-5 Season

Rushing: 280 carries, 1,505 yards, 5.4 yards per carry, 18 touchdowns.

Receiving: 28 catches, 288 yards, 10.3 yards per catch, two touchdowns.

This is the sophomore standard, with the rushing yardage the most ever in any season at Notre Dame (again, when including the bowl games, which were not prior to 2002).

Jerome Bettis (1991), 10-3 Season

Rushing: 184 carries, 1,122 yards, 6.1 yards per carry, 19 touchdowns.

Receiving: 18 catches, 195 yards, 10.3 yards per catch, four touchdowns.

Most astounding is “The Bus” averaged 6.1 yards per attempt while running between the tackles as a fullback. He concluded the season with 16 carries for 150 yards and three scores in the 39-28 Sugar Bowl win versus No. 3 Florida.

As a freshman, Bettis had only 18 carries.

Autry Denson (1996), 8-3 Season

Rushing: 202 carries, 1,179 yards, 5.8 yards per carry, eight touchdowns.

Receiving: 11 catches, 111 yards, 10.1 yards per catch, two touchdowns.

In the final season under head coach Lou Holtz — who had threatened to move the school’s all-time leading rusher to flanker — Denson showcased his workmanlike consistency.

Ryan Grant (2002), 10-3 Season

Rushing: 261 carries, 1,085 yards, 4.2 yards per carry, nine touchdowns.

Receiving: 9 catches, 22 yards, 2.4 yards per catch, zero touchdowns.

After rushing for 110 yards as a freshman, Grant was called on to be the workhorse in head coach Tyrone Willingham’s first season with the Irish after starter Julius Jones was declared academically ineligible.