Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 23, 2024 15 ard is with his legs. Notre Dame is a better football team for it. Opposing coaches who have to scout him are well aware. "He's big," Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said. "He's a big guy. You can see it on film. You can tell he's 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, and he's very confident as a runner, decisive. He's not afraid of con- tact, and he likes to fall forward. That's what makes him a good runner." STARTING UP FRONT The Notre Dame offensive line was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to the best O-line unit in college football, Nov. 12. McCullough doesn't save his social me- dia posts exclusively for "Stable Talk." He sent one out that day saying, "Where it all starts." He is not wrong. Notre Dame would not be where it is in the stretch run of the season as one of the nation's top rushing offenses without one of the nation's top offensive lines. That's just how it works. The reality that this unit, which had six combined previ- ous starts among its Week 1 starters at Texas A&M, which has endured multiple injuries and the mixing and matching that comes in lineup combinations as a result, is playing at a top-10 level is one of the more important, underrated de- velopments of this Notre Dame season. "Who'd have thunk it?" Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. "I mean, what a great job." Denbrock said the Irish line aptly pav- ing the way for Leonard, Love and Co. is a testament to the young talent per- meating the roster and the coaching job Joe Rudolph has done to make the most of what he's got. The inexperience go- ing into the season opener said nothing about potential. Rudolph has steadily tapped into it as the weeks have gone by, and it's showing up in the form of 200- plus rushing yards here, 200-plus there. Of course, the players themselves de- serve a ton of praise too. "At that position, live snaps and being in the fray when there's really meaning- ful things going on is what helps you make progress sometimes faster than maybe you think it's going to come," Denbrock said. Everyone in the stable is quick to point to the offensive line as the main reason for their accomplishments. Leonard doesn't let a postgame press conference go by without a nod to the big heavies either — even when asked about a 34- yard touchdown rush against Florida State that was mostly his own doing. "I just run until they tackle me," he said. "Actually — there were some pretty good blocks on that play. I'll give the credit to those guys." After all, what's a stable full of stallions without the folks who look after them? ✦ "Coach [Deland] McCullough does a great job of getting those guys in that room to buy in. There is not just one guy. We need the entire unit." HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN ON THE IRISH RUNNING BACKS Junior Jadarian Price is one of four Notre Dame tailbacks averaging more than 5.0 yards per carry this season, and he ranks first among the group at 7.3. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER