Notre Dame considering a strategic wrinkle involving RB room

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have to feel great about where their running back room stands heading into the 2025 season.

Jeremiyah Love, a junior, is expected to be one of the best running backs in the nation and he could even end up being a Heisman Trophy candidate. Last season for the Irish, he rushed 163 times for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns while adding two more scores as a receiver.

He’s Notre Dame’s RB1, and a stud at that, but the Irish also have a tremendous backup in  junior Jadarian Price. Price rushed 120 times for 746 yards and seven touchdowns last season.

It’s a strong one-two punch for head coach Marcus Freeman, and it gives opposing defenses a lot to worry about. When Love needs a breather, it’s not like the Fighting Irish’s offense will lose much when Price comes in.

Speaking of Freeman, he does seem to be thinking about a wrinkle in the offense this season or, at the very least, he’s giving Notre Dame’s 2025 opponents something to think about.

Recently speaking on ESPN’s “Vibe Check,” he revealed that every Notre Dame running back is going to have to be prepared to play a role in 2025. That’s coach speak, of course, but in that, he dropped a hint about a potential two running back set.

“They’ve all been working individually on how to improve as an individual — whether that’s in pass protection, whether that’s ball security, whether that’s as a receiver,” Freeman said (h/t On3). “We’ve got to find different ways to have each of them improve. It’s going to be a running back by committee. We have to utilize every person in that room, and that might mean having more than one running back on the field at one time.”

A split back formation would give Notre Dame the option to hand the ball off to either Love or Price and either back would be able to go either way. There are options for straight handoffs to the right or to the left, one running back or the other going across the quarterback’s face to run into the opposite side of the line and, of course, Notre Dame could even go into a traditional I-formation and use either Love or Price as a fullback.

The point is, having both backs on the field at the same time will give offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock a ton of options. Meanwhile, opposing defensive coordinators will be sweating.