Jonaz Walton and Nolan James Jr. Are Pushing for Bigger Roles in Notre Dame’s Backfield

Notre Dame is two games into the season and still without a running back who has taken hold of the lead role, with the carries behind current starter Aneyas Williams divided among the rest of the running back room. Sophomore Nolan James Jr. and true freshman Jonaz Walton, however, are starting to emerge and could challenge Williams sooner rather than later if things don’t change with the Notre Dame running game.

Marcus Freeman said Monday, with Notre Dame turning toward Michigan State, that the true freshman running back has earned a bigger share of the work with what he did against Rice and what he has been doing in practice.

“Jonaz played really well on Saturday with his opportunities, and he’s done a really good job in practice,” Freeman said. “And I believe he’ll continue to get more if the opportunity presents itself.”

James scored both of Notre Dame’s rushing touchdowns in the 52-0 win, and Freeman said the second-year back’s role is still growing. “And so he’s gonna get more,” Freeman said.

Walton’s Burst Is Hard to Ignore

Walton ran eight times for 48 yards against Rice, six yards a carry on an afternoon Notre Dame averaged 3.7 and finished with 118 yards on 32 attempts. There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in him. He took the handoff and was immediately at speed, the way Jadarian Price ran the ball here. No one else in the Notre Dame backfield this year has displayed that kind of explosion running the ball.

Freeman spent most of his answer on Walton discussing what the freshman is still figuring out. The speed is not the question. The reads, the patience, and the way he sets up blocks are still coming along.

“He is, I mean, he’s a 10.6 100-meter guy. He can fly. He’s got a different speed and pace to him, and he’s learning how to actually play the running back position at the college level,” Freeman said. “You get away with high school just being the best athlete, and now he’s learning reads and how to set up blocks and how to be patient and when to go.”

Ja’Juan Seider said in the summer that Walton would play this season, with the caveat that his pass protection had to improve, which is typical of almost every true freshman running back. On the change in how Walton practices, Freeman pointed to the standard the staff has held him to.

“And I think one of the big challenges for Jonaz was we were hard on him, like, you’ve got to practice at a pace and a speed that reflects the game,” Freeman said. “This isn’t high school. You can’t jog around here. You’ve got to go full speed. And you’re seeing that habit develop, and he’s a truly ascending player.”

Going back quite a few years, the way Walton ran reminded me of Julius Jones forcing his way onto the field as a true freshman in 1999 with upperclassmen ahead of him. Jones was too talented to keep off the field and earned a role even with the obvious true freshman running back growing pains. Whether or not Walton does the same is something to monitor.

James Is Doing More Than Finishing Drives

James caught four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown against Wisconsin, which is the part of his game that gets overlooked when the carries come inside the five. He has 13 carries for 48 yards and two touchdowns through two games. He ran 14 times for 37 yards all of last season, so the volume and the production are already ahead of where he was a year ago.

“He’s got great balance. He runs hard. He is really doing a good job in the run and the pass game,” Freeman said. “You know, you saw it with a couple of those balls that popped on Saturday.”

The week-to-week habits came up as much as the touchdown moments.

“He’s been able to make some plays that people remember and they see. But he is, again, he’s just putting in the work, man,” Freeman said. “He’s a great football player. He’s talented, but he works his tail off, and he’s going to continue to do really good things.”

Williams Still Has the Lead, but Not the Grip

Williams still leads the room with 29 carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns, and nearly all of it arrived after halftime of the opener. He was slow out of the gate against Wisconsin before finishing with 90 yards and two scores on 20 carries. Against Rice, he got nine carries for 29 yards and never got the run game going with them.

Two games in, nobody in the room has separated as the clear RB1, even if Williams sits atop the depth chart and is getting the most carries.

“Most of the time, how you practice is really going to be how you play,” Freeman said, when asked how often what a young player does in a game matches what the staff has already seen in practice. “You know, that old ‘I’m a gamer,’ I just don’t see it. The situation in a game is probably different, but your practice habits reflect on Saturday.”

Williams has made some big plays for Notre Dame in the past and waited his time behind Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, so the staff is going to give him every opportunity to establish himself. But if James keeps making plays and Walton keeps flashing the explosion that was undeniable to anyone who watched him run on Saturday, they could be forced to reconsider the roles in the backfield as the season progresses if the running game continues to struggle to find its footing.