Blue and Gold Illustrated

its No. 4 back without him. Still, the 20 carries Prosise had against Texas might become a weekly expectation. "I was sore, but you're going to be sore after a football game," Prosise said. "I was hurting a little bit, but you just have to move forward. Get in the ice tub, get treatment and get back on the field … I don't think there was any- thing I wasn't expecting." Meanwhile, the 6-1, 212-pound Adams, who tore his ACL as a high school junior, debuted with a 14-yard TD on his first career carry and later hit the hole quickly on a 25-yard scoring scamper in which he was untouched. His five carries netted 49 yards. "The game of football comes to him pretty easily," Kelly said of Adams, especially lauding his knowledge and execution of pass protections. "It just seems to click a lot easier for him." Adams did make at least one wrong block on a play against the Longhorns, but when Kelly saw him the next morning, the freshman brought it up to him even before the head coach could address it. Still, the running back position looks more fragile than it did at the start of August, especially with Prosise coming off a preseason hip flexor that side- lined him a couple of weeks. Thus, a three-man rotation in the backfield is a necessity, not a luxury. Kelly said the next option to be the third back is 5-11, 200-pound Florida freshman Dexter Williams (seven carries for 24 yards versus Texas), who will need to accel- erate his learning curve. It goes beyond just having to learn pass protections and the overall ver- nacular of the offense. "It's the patience of letting your blockers get into their fits and hav- ing the patience to trust your offensive line, which is sometimes hard to do as a young back," Kelly said of Williams, who had his own share of injuries in high school. "He certainly is not ready to handle everything, but I feel con- fident enough that we'll get him into the game. We think he has a chance to certainly help us in the rotation." Also vying more seriously is 5-9, 205-pound senior Josh Anderson, a scout team mainstay before being put on scholarship this August. He will be working more with the regular unit than scout team, and his knowledge base is deeper than sophomore Justin Brent, who was moved from wide re- ceiver to help at running back in Au- gust after the transfer of Bryant. "Anderson knows our protections very well," Kelly said. "We're going to have to keep him with us a little." Kelly added that he envisions, or at least hopes, Prosise can handle 15 to 20 carries per game, while junior quarter- back Malik Zaire can be in the nine- to 15-carry range. From there, another 10 to 20 or so rushing attempts can be divvied among Adams, Williams, and even slot receivers Amir Carlisle (a former running back), junior Torii Hunter Jr. and freshman CJ Sanders. The way they will be utilized must be done resourcefully, highlighting in- dividual strengths, anything from jet sweeps to even getting out in space on screen passes that might come behind the backfield. It's all part of Notre Dame's brand- spanking-new backfield having to learn on the run. ✦

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