'24 MO RB Aneyas Williams (Notre Dame Signee)

Veritate Duce Progredi

Veritate Duce Progredi

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irishrb said:
I'll say it...I know it's early, but he might be the most underwhelming starting running back I have seen at Notre Dame since....literally ever.
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Jafar Armstrong would like a word. I loved him as a recruit and thought he'd hit but he never did. They tried to convert him to an RB but he didn't have the lateral ability. Fast kid though.

I definitely think Nolan James has done more with less so far. I don't know if he needs to be the "bellcow". We just need the RB snaps to be efficient and occasionally explosive. Nolan James is capable of hitting 5-30 yd runs and he's capable of catching the ball and doing the same thing.

We'll see what we get from Aneyas this week, maybe he'll be very efficient and break a few.
 
fightingirish26

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The question is if you would be starting Aneyas Williams or cam mcdaniel. I get aneyas has had a slow start but it's not that complicated of an answer
 
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Veritate Duce Progredi said:
Jafar Armstrong would like a word. I loved him as a recruit and thought he'd hit but he never did. They tried to convert him to an RB but he didn't have the lateral ability. Fast kid though.

I definitely think Nolan James has done more with less so far. I don't know if he needs to be the "bellcow". We just need the RB snaps to be efficient and occasionally explosive. Nolan James is capable of hitting 5-30 yd runs and he's capable of catching the ball and doing the same thing.

We'll see what we get from Aneyas this week, maybe he'll be very efficient and break a few.
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Was Jafar ever really...truly a starter? I guess he had to hold serve for a couple weeks, but you knew it was a matter of time. I think we'll see improvement from Williams, but I do think he might hold serve...
 
Dale

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IIRC the beginning of the year it was Atkinson/McDaniel and then end of the year was McDaniel/Folston
 
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Old Man Mike said:
Yeh, I think you DO "diminish" him. McDaniel was our team captain and played a year of pro ball in Canada. Just because he was not Jeremiah Love doesn't mean that he wasn't a good football player (and his team knew it.)
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Yeah, I agree...He did everything well and I enjoyed watching him play. They also had Atkinson who showed good speed, and Folston who was pretty good..
 
Rocketman84

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GowerND11 said:
People see the YPC and not the total carries. Now, do things have to get better? Of course. But with a game like this, there's no volume. There's no chance for Williams to, maybe, take his 10th carry for 15 yards. His 12th for 10. Hist 15th for another 10. Those all boost the average, but when there is no more carries... this happens.
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Exactly, the #1 getting 9 carries was wild, especially for a back who gets better as the games goes on and the defense wears down.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

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JD Irish said:
It is very strange because he looked so much better in both 2024 and 2025. I thought he would be great.
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Were his reps meaningful during that time?

He was ripping off runs last year when the game was no longer in doubt and the two Ferraris were parked in the garage.
 
BleedBlueGold

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Jiggafini19Deux said:
Were his reps meaningful during that time?

He was ripping off runs last year when the game was no longer in doubt and the two Ferraris were parked in the garage.
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I'd say PSU playoff game was pretty meaningful...

The kid can play. Just waiting for that version of him to show up so far this year. He's not Love or Price, but he's not incapable of playing at a high level either. I'm just hoping he gets it going and the explosive plays in the run game start becoming a thing. Offenses that are explosive in the run and passing game are almost impossible to stop, regardless of how good the defense is they're playing. And that's what I want to see as we steamroll everyone on the way towards winning a natty.
 
ulukinatme

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Jiggafini19Deux said:
This is what it boils down to. We don't make the decision based on 48 yards rushing against Rice at home in mop up time.

I'm letting the coaches handle this because the inevitability of getting our first glimpse of Walton was going to lead us down this path.
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Exactly. Carries against a fresh defense at the beginning of the game when the score is 0 - 0 are a lot different than carries against a gassed or 2nd string Rice defense when the store is 40-0. The holes were just bigger for Walton, and ultimately we don't know how good of a blocker he or James are and that's likely why Williams is ahead of them. I watched at least one play where James got put on his ass in a pass blocking situation.
 
Dale

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ulukinatme said:
Exactly. Carries against a fresh defense at the beginning of the game when the score is 0 - 0 are a lot different than carries against a gassed or 2nd string Rice defense when the store is 40-0. The holes were just bigger for Walton, and ultimately we don't know how good of a blocker he or James are and that's likely why Williams is ahead of them. I watched at least one play where James got put on his ass in a pass blocking situation.
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Walton had two big runs. One was well blocked, one was completely blow up.

Who knows what the next carry could have brought.

Think we’re really making too many sweeping declarations based off a handful carries. Nobody got obviously better or worse blocking unless someone has crunched the film and has drawn an opinion based off it.
 
ulukinatme

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Dale said:
Walton had two big runs. One was well blocked, one was completely blow up.

Who knows what the next carry could have brought.

Think we’re really making too many sweeping declarations based off a handful carries. Nobody got obviously better or worse blocking unless someone has crunched the film and has drawn an opinion based off it.
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Tengwall did crunch the film though. He mentioned at least a few times how the lanes were much bigger for Walton than what Williams was getting on early drives, it was noticeable. By the sounds of it Prescod was in during the Walton runs so it would have been our 2nd string OL vs. either Rice's 2nd string or their worn out starters. Either way, our guys were dominating the LOS 4th quarter compared to 1st quarter.
 
Dale

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ulukinatme said:
Tengwall did crunch the film though. He mentioned at least a few times how the lanes were much bigger for Walton than what Williams was getting on early drives, it was noticeable. By the sounds of it Prescod was in during the Walton runs so it would have been our 2nd string OL vs. either Rice's 2nd string or their worn out starters. Either way, our guys were dominating the LOS 4th quarter compared to 1st quarter.
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His best run was completely blown up

Tengwall also made the OL comment about one singular play
 
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Dale

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The thing with Walton, is has James or Williams shown the ability to take a blown up run, bounce it to the edge and then finish through a defender? The way we’ve seen Love and Price do it for two years. I think the answer is no. And it was one singular run, but people want to at least see if that one run becomes a regular thing, which is fair to want IMO.
 
ulukinatme

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Dale said:
His best run was completely blown up

Tengwall also made the OL comment about one singular play
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He mentions good lanes and blocking twice for Walton:

First time at 16:43


He mentions a separate play at 13:20 and reiterates that Williams wasn't getting many lanes like that on his inside zone carries:
 
Dale

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ulukinatme said:
He mentions good lanes and blocking twice for Walton:

First time at 16:43


He mentions a separate play at 13:20 and reiterates that Williams wasn't getting many lanes like that on his inside zone carries:
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No time stamp for the best run?

Williams has gotten good blocking at least twice this year, I can promise you that. It’s a silly argument. Walton brings a possible explosive element that Williams has not shown yet, and that’s a fact. Can he? Maybe! He needs to be more patient. Walton probably still edges him on explosiveness profile wise regardless. But I think you’re overly discrediting Walton by making this “he got a better blocking” a thing
 
ulukinatme

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Dale said:
The thing with Walton, is has James or Williams shown the ability to take a blown up run, bounce it to the edge and then finish through a defender? The way we’ve seen Love and Price do it for two years. I think the answer is no. And it was one singular run, but people want to at least see if that one run becomes a regular thing, which is fair to want IMO.
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If we're having to constantly bounce runs outside then that's a clear OL problem and not a RB issue. Case in point, Love and Price. Price had a problem with patience in his first few years, something which they made a point of his final year to address. The A&M game was a great example, Price did bounce one run out on a broken play that went for 47, but when he tried some of that on his other 7 runs he had a total of -3 yards. Love, on the other hand, was more patient in that game and had 14 carries for 94 yards which still carried a hefty average if you remove his 24 yard chunk broken play.
 
ulukinatme

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Dale said:
No time stamp for the best run?

Williams has gotten good blocking at least twice this year, I can promise you that. It’s a silly argument. Walton brings a possible explosive element that Williams has not shown yet, and that’s a fact. Can he? Maybe! He needs to be more patient. Walton probably still edges him on explosiveness profile wise regardless. But I think you’re overly discrediting Walton by making this “he got a better blocking” a thing
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I genuinely like Walton and think he may be our best runner or at least has great potential there. I really like what I've seen with James too, he was a hell of a playmaker in the receiving game against Wisconsin. All this is irrelevant in the starting RB1 spot if they can't block like Williams and put it all together. I've said it before, but your most talented runner isn't necessarily your most complete back and starter. History has shown that to be the case a number of times for this team over the years.
 
Jiggafini19Deux

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MeanGreenBeans said:
RB to start the year was... Travis Thomas? Yeah that's rock bottom.
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He was a linebacker the year before. So there's that.
BleedBlueGold said:
I'd say PSU playoff game was pretty meaningful...

The kid can play. Just waiting for that version of him to show up so far this year. He's not Love or Price, but he's not incapable of playing at a high level either. I'm just hoping he gets it going and the explosive plays in the run game start becoming a thing. Offenses that are explosive in the run and passing game are almost impossible to stop, regardless of how good the defense is they're playing. And that's what I want to see as we steamroll everyone on the way towards winning a natty.
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He had two carries against Penn State. Last year, I don't think he had a singe carry in the month of October. He played mop up games in the five biggest blowouts of the year. Go back to 2023. J Love was not setting the world ablaze yet. He had one TD all year against FCS HBCU Tennessee State.

I think we all agree that he's probably not Love or Price, but it's been two games into the season. We all want to see him run for 1,500 yards and win a National Championship. Neither of these can happen in the middle of September. If he were sitting on 250 yards rushing right now, that would be terrific, but for now we have to settle for 2-0 with 6 very impressive quarters of football played so far out of 8.
ulukinatme said:
Exactly. Carries against a fresh defense at the beginning of the game when the score is 0 - 0 are a lot different than carries against a gassed or 2nd string Rice defense when the store is 40-0. The holes were just bigger for Walton, and ultimately we don't know how good of a blocker he or James are and that's likely why Williams is ahead of them. I watched at least one play where James got put on his ass in a pass blocking situation.
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Pass protection is important for running backs in this program. We've known this now for a number of years now. Most of these high profile recruit running backs are not asked to do it when they're in high school. Now you're at Notre Dame and you are pass protecting against teams like Ohio State, Miami, Wisconsin on the road in season openers. It's a lot to ask of an 18 year old, even if the dude is an early enrollee.
The season is here, we're all excited, but it's been two games. Let it play out a little bit more and the coaches will find the answers.
 
Old Man Mike

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Everyone should relax. When the line gels, we'll be able to run, AND someone will look better.

I also wish that just because a player's not Jeremiah Love, people'd not say he's not a very good football player.
He "might" not be a great NFL football player, but if he's starting for Notre Dame, he's one hell of an athlete.
(Cam McDaniel's cone drill time was faster than almost anyone's/anywhere that year, for instance.)
People who never took a college snap should get their perspective together. Our guys always deserve SOME applause.
 
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MeanGreenBeans said:
RB to start the year was... Travis Thomas? Yeah that's rock bottom.
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Jiggafini19Deux said:
Were you lucid in 2007?
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  • James Aldridge (Sophomore): 121 carries, 463 yards (3.8 average), 0 rushing TDs
  • Armando Allen (Freshman): 86 carries, 348 yards (4.0 average), 0 rushing TDs
  • Robert Hughes (Freshman): 53 carries, 294 yards (5.5 average), 3 rushing TDs
  • Travis Thomas (Senior): 27 carries, 58 yards (2.1 average), 1 rushing TD
Still very much a running back by committee and you could the thunder/lightning combo of Allen Hughes offered some excitement. It is definitely early...and expectations are high...
 
T-Boone

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I must say there are a lot of good points and then counter points in this thread. All respectful of each others point of view.
Things are at an interesting stage relative to the running game going into the Michigan State game. I for one am looking forward to how it goes.
 
T-Boone

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irishrb said:
Was Jafar ever really...truly a starter? I guess he had to hold serve for a couple weeks, but you knew it was a matter of time. I think we'll see improvement from Williams, but I do think he might hold serve...
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I remember tuning in late to the Michigan game he debuted in and the first thing I saw was a replay of his mad juke for a TD. That was his peak play.
 
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