Notre Dame Football: Can Tony Jones Jr. take control of backfield?

Tony Jones Jr. has set high expectations for himself heading into his senior year with Notre Dame football. Can he take control of the backfield?

Notre Dame has been quite lucky over the past few years as Brian Kelly and the Irish have had an embarrassment of riches at the running back position.

Dexter Williams led the run game in 2018 and looked like that breakout star everyone was expecting. Before him, it was Josh Adams who rushed for 1,400 yards in 2017 just one year after bursting out for nearly 1,000 in his first season as a starter. C.J. Prosise reached 1,000 yards in 2015, Tarean Folston had nearly 900 in 2014 and Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood came before them.

The Irish have been dedicated to the run since Kelly got to campus and developing multiple 1,000-yard rushers is an impressive feat.

Well, he may be on the verge of yet another in Tony Jones Jr.

The former four-star recruit in the Irish’s 2016 class has gone from lightly used back as a freshman and sophomore — 44 total carries in 13 games — to a guy who had 83 touches for 392 yards and three touchdowns on 4.7 yards per touch in 2018.

To top it all off, he’s having himself quite the spring and Kelly has been impressed with his consistency. Oh, and he’s setting some lofty goals for himself which are pushing him to be an even better running back.

If he wants to be remembered as one of the best running backs to come through under Kelly, he’s going to need to break out of the shadow of Adams and Williams and reach 1,000 yards.

Can he do it? He’s shown flashes of that quick, shifty running style but he also has a thick 215-pound frame that makes him difficult to bring down. He runs hard and seems to be motivated to break out in 2019 as a star in the backfield. With the attitude he has this spring, it’d be difficult to bet against him.

Notre Dame’s backfield is once again in good hands and it’s not easy to impress Kelly, but Jones Jr. is doing a heck of a job. Let’s see if he can continue that through the fall of his final year.