Notre Dame Football: 5 players who must step up in 2018

2. Dexter Williams

While this could go for junior Tony Jones Jr. as well, the Irish have significantly higher expectations for senior Dexter Williams. While Jones is certainly a great commodity and will likely do well for the Irish, Williams fell one carry shy of potentially qualifying as the NCAA’s leader in yards per attempt last season.

Williams is an exceptional talent and has all of the potential in the world to be a three-down back for the Irish. However, durability has been an issue for Williams and Kelly himself is unsure as to whether or not he will be able to make it through the entire season with little rest. Thankfully, that’s where Jones comes in.

Notre Dame would love to have a player capable of taking on the role that belonged to Josh Adams last season, but it’s unknown as to whether or not either Williams or Jones will manifest into that caliber player. Williams has been working on his pass blocking and other minor things this spring, but it will likely boil down to his durability at the end of the day.

After boasting one of the league’s most dynamic rushing attacks with Adams and Wimbush, with the latter of whom missed this list only due to the obvious nature of requesting a quarterback to step up. However, that rushing attack could be severely hindered if Williams fails to meet the expectations set for him.