Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 APRIL 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED I t's as if you had to bite your tongue just to keep yourself from saying, "Really?" As per usual, the first thing re- porters saw when they entered the Irish Athletic Center to examine the entirety of Notre Dame's prac- tice on March 26 were stretching lines. All the players, even some of the injured ones, lined up from sideline to sideline, single file, go- ing through various stretches and warm-up exercises. Getting the limbs loose for two hours of toil. Even some of the injured ones. A few of the players in that cat- egory made sense. Senior corner- back Cam Hart had his shoulder cleaned up over the offseason. Sixth-year wide receiver Avery Davis had ACL surgery in No- vember. He actually looked pretty agile considering the timeline. A player the media didn't expect to see (but maybe shouldn't have been surprised to) without pads on and in a t-shirt and shorts like Hart and Davis? Junior running back Chris Tyree. Barely a week into spring practices, Tyree was already hampered by an ankle sprain. His left ankle was heavily taped. He didn't take part in any drills beyond the stretching lines. Tyree missed time last season with a turf toe injury. He lost his standing as the obvious No. 2 option behind poten- tial 2022 NFL Draft pick Kyren Williams in the process. This offseason, Tyree has the opportunity to jump from a 2A or 2B slot to the lead back. But that's not off to so hot of a start. Tyree stood and watched in street clothes at the March 26 practice as sophomore Logan Diggs took a short pass from junior quarterback Drew Pyne to the house for a touchdown, sopho- more Audric Estime shook defend- ers and was called a "diesel truck" by head coach Marcus Freeman and early enrollee freshman Jadarian Price made some plays in space that showed he could soon be as elusive in the open field as any running back on the Notre Dame roster. All while Tyree could do nothing. It's still the spring. Tyree has plenty of time to prove he deserves more run- ning back snaps than anyone else. Of- fensive coordinator Tommy Rees is a fan of Tyree's athleticism. But that is only of use to Rees when Tyree is healthy. Taking care of the body is a full-time job in college football. That's not to say Tyree isn't doing that. He's not purposely getting in- jured. There's nobody more frustrated by Tyree's recent run of injuries than Tyree himself. Frustration, though, isn't going to make up for a loss of practice reps. These are valuable. When Diggs scored in practice with Tyree watching, the IAC erupted. Play- ers congratulated him on the big play. Coaches remember that. They take note of who's captivating the guys, who's being rallied around. Right now, that's Diggs. Tyree is 5-9½, 190 pounds. Diggs is 5-11¾, 206 pounds. One of those frames is more built to hold up over the course of an entire season. The other is more of a featured-back frame. A pack- age guy. Ever since he stepped on campus, Tyree had intentions to replace Williams as the No. 1 tailback in South Bend. He might be seeing that opportunity slip away right before his eyes. And that's a result of not being able to stay on the field in addition to what Diggs has done in the meantime. Like with the quarterbacks, Rees does not have any incentive to tell reporters who the leader in the clubhouse is to start at run- ning back against Ohio State on Sept. 3. But as the media watches more practices, it becomes evi- dent who's in that position — es- pecially when Tyree can't even give it a go. If he's healthy, the Blue-Gold Game will be a tell-all of sorts in front of the entire Notre Dame fan base. This is something that has been brewing ever since Tyree first went down with turf toe against Virginia Tech last October. From that game forward, Diggs rushed for 230 yards with four total touchdowns. Tyree rushed for 124 yards with one total touchdown, a lengthy re- ceiving score in the Fiesta Bowl. Yes, it took a while for Tyree to work all the way back from the ailment. It's possible he wasn't fully healthy until the bowl game, which led to more car- ries for the true freshman Diggs. But that in and of itself was even an issue. A BlueandGold.com message board member posed the following question in mid-March: who will lead Notre Dame in rushing yards this season? I didn't hesitate to say Diggs. And that was be- fore the March 26 injury revelation. Like Rees, I believe Tyree is super talented. He's arguably the fastest player on the roster. He has better running back in- stincts than people probably give him credit for. But a player's best ability is availability. Lately, Tyree hasn't had enough of that. ✦ GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com First-year running backs coach Deland McCullough has options to replace the departed Kyren Williams, but Diggs has displayed the size, talent and durability to seize the starting job. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Logan Diggs Gains Inside Track For 2022