Deja Vu?
Frank Vitovitch
October 31, 1999

Notre Dame, Ind - We have seen flashes of it from week one, we have speculated about it since last January, and we have all seen it coming all season.   Julius Jones has emerged as the best running back on this team, and looks as if he has taken over the role of the teams starting running back.

After only seeing his first career run against Kansas we all saw the way he hit the hole.  He didn't just hit it, he exploded through it.   He showed a burst like no other Notre Dame running back in recent years, and we all knew he was going to be something special.

Every week Julius has seen more and more action in the games.  It started off with just a carry here and there when Notre Dame had the game won as in week one against Kansas.  Then he started returning punts and kickoffs.   Against USC he saw substantial action at running back and came up with a huge catch out of the backfield for over 50 yards.

It was this week against Navy, however, that he had his break out party.  Tony Fisher started the game, but by the second quarter Jones took over.  Whenever he got the ball he would just fly through whatever hole the line gave him and made people miss him.  With Notre Dame facing a first and ten from their own five with the game tied they went to Julius Jones and he came up with a 28 yard, tackle breaking run getting Notre Dame out of the hole.

Does anyone else remember back in 1995 when a freshman running back burst on to the scene and took carries away from the pre season starters and ended up being the starter at the end of season?  In 95, Autry Denson, a freshman from Lauderhill, Florida, came on to the scene and he is currently the all time leading rusher at Notre Dame.

Denson came in and got a good amount of carries in the games that Notre Dame had in hand and week by week his role increases till he was the go to guy by season's end.  Denson ran for over 600 yards in his rookie season and to date Julius Jones has 223 with four games remaining.  If he runs the way he did against Navy against Tennessee, Pitt, Boston College, and Stanford and gets about 20 carries per game, he could very easily get over 600 yards as well.

The one blaring difference between Denson and Jones, however, is speed.  Denson had average speed, but Jones on the other hand can fly.   He has game breaking speed along with the ability to make people miss and make something out of nothing just as Denson did. 

Denson did not get to be the school's all time leading rusher with his speed.  There were many times where Denson would get pulled down from behind by defensive backs.  For example, on the first play of the 98 Michigan game, Denson broke through the hole and was headed to pay dirt till he got tackled from behind. He used his ability to make defenders miss and a great offensive line.  Denson graduated from Notre Dame along with 4 of his offensive linemen from his senior year.  

Jones brings to the table an element that has been missing from Notre Dame in recent years - speed.  Randy Kinder, Autry Denson, Robert Farmer, Tony Fisher, Tony Driver, and Clement Stokes have all seen a good amount of carries for Notre Dame the past few seasons, but how many of them had game breaking speed? 

With a maturing offensive line that should all return next year, and a group of freshman offensive linemen that looks like it could be something very special, it is not inconceivable that Jones could in fact challenge Denson's record by his senior year - but I don't want to be another Beano Cook and predict things like winning two Heismans.  For now I will be happy to see Jones rack up the yards and keep hitting the hole like he has.

It is very interesting though that Denson started by the end of his freshman season and now the first year that he is gone it looks as if another freshman has stolen the show away from the rest of the running backs.