SOUTH BEND, Ind. — There’s a bounce in his strut, an authenticity to his swagger, a maturity to Logan Diggs’ outlook on college football and his place in it that was missing from his steady rise as a freshman running back last fall.
Perhaps not as immediately noticeable, but far more significant than the red jersey he’s been saddled with since the start of Notre Dame football training camp on Aug. 5, Diggs’ inner transformation syncs up nicely with his ongoing recovery from April labrum surgery on his left shoulder.
“I look at the red jersey, and I’d be like man, ‘I’m just ready to get this off.’” Diggs offered Wednesday of the symbol to remind his teammates in practice that he’s not yet cleared for contact. “One day I’m going to come back to my loop and that blue jersey is going to be in there.
“It’s going to be a good day. Confidence is going to be out the roof. I’m going to be excited. I’m already excited. I love football, so this is my escape. I get to come out here and play for my teammates every day, and that’s what football is. That’s the love that you have for it.”
He’d love it even more if his timetable for a full recovery made him available for fifth-ranked Notre Dame’s Sept. 3 season opener at No. 2 Ohio State. But if that’s not the case, he’s willing and able to be patient.
Something the the 6-foot, 212-pound Boutte, La., product struggled with mightily in 2021, when a bout with COVID delayed his debut early last season and the notion of redshirting him then kicked in and nudged his opener to game six of the season. That's when he helped rescue a depleted backfield in a comeback road win at Virginia Tech.
Diggs finished third on the team in rushing yards — with 230 on 52 carries with three touchdowns — behind only 1,000-yard rusher Kyren Williams, now an L.A. Rams rookie, and 2021 tag-team QB Tyler Buchner, now the Irish starter.
But he sulked and struggled in the season’s aftermath.
“Just being so far from home,” he said. “You feel like you can just get in the car and drive home, but you can’t. So I always felt like I was close to home, but at the same time, I knew I wasn’t home.”
The South Bend winter temps were a constant and cruel reminder of that. The extended stretch of no playing time early in the season still haunted him.
What eventually changed?
“It’s the people, man,” Diggs said. “The people at Notre Dame. Everybody is really genuine and nice. And it’s like nothing I’ve ever been around before. People are way more nice in the Midwest.
“Just the relationships I built with my teammates. That’s probably the main thing that kept me here. I love these guys, and I just feel like I have a connection with them. And If I left, I’d not only be letting them down, but passing up on an opportunity that a lot of people from the South really don’t get — to come to Notre Dame.
“But winter stinks. That ain’t gonna change.”
His runnings back coach did change, from Lance Taylor to Deland McCullough, and he’s all in on the latter’s high energy and share-the-ball mentality.
Junior Chris Tyree is the lead back, but there are plenty of roles and carries in store for sophomore Audric Estime, freshman Gi’Bran Payne and Diggs once he’s medically cleared. Freshman Jadarian Price would have been a part of that too, but an Achilles tendon rupture in late June has sidelined him for the season.
“When Jadarian first got here, I was like, ‘Yeah. I need to tighten up. He’s coming to play.’ Jadarian’s going to be really, really, really good. I like his game. He's real quick. He's real shifty. He's strong, too. Explosive.
“(The) running back position is a lot of wear and tear. So you know having all these running backs who can play, that’s really good for your team. For all of us, we know when we’re in there for those 3-4-5 plays, we’ll give it everything we got, because we know the next man coming in is going to do the exact same thing.
"So, it’s really no energy lost. And it prepares you for the next level. When you get to the NFL, unless you’re like a Derrick Henry, you’re not going to be the main guy. You’re going to be in a rotation with about three other backs, ‘cause it’s longevity. Who's going to last long?”
Diggs’ longevity in the Irish rotation took a hiatus after he injured his left shoulder in the April 23 Blue-Gold Game while throwing a stiff arm at a defender.
“My shoulder got stuck and it was hanging,” he said. “And I was trying to move it, but I couldn’t move it. And I was like, ‘I think I dislocated it.’ I didn’t know the severity of it. I thought you just pop it back in. You’re good. You’re ready to play.
“Then afterward it tightened up and I couldn’t really move it. I just remember praying that it wasn’t the labrum and praying that I wouldn’t have to have surgery. That’s really all I can remember: "I hope I don’t have to have surgery.' You work so hard. And you’re fighting for it, fighting for it. You just want to go.
“Once I figured it out, my mindset completely shifted to, ‘Let’s get back. It’s time to go. It's time to recover. It’s just another bump in the road. Gotta attack it.’”
Something the freshman version of Logan Diggs might not have been able to do so readily.
Perhaps the most unequivocal confirmation of Diggs’ growth is the way he now handles what he perceives as mistakes by the Irish offensive line.
Last season, he wasn’t shy about pointing flaws and mistakes out to the offending linemen. And now, granted the errors are coming at a much lower frequency, Diggs has adjusted.
“I leave all of that to (O-line) coach Harry (Hiestand), man,” Diggs said with a big grin. “Coach Harry is the guy. I’m not going to step in his way. If I see something, I communicate with the offense but not to the extreme last year when I just spoke my mind.
“I know coach Harry. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been here before. He’s been to the highest level, So I’m like, ‘You know way more than me.’ So if something needs fixing, he’s going to see it before I see it.”
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