The wide receiver is always open, and the running back always wants the next carry.
Balance can be an almost-mythical, unattainable medium in football, particularly at the high-skill, high-visibility positions where touches are everything.
At Notre Dame, with arguably the deepest stable of tailbacks in all of college football, meet Deland McCullough: the drill-evolving, former Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach balances a five-deep backfield of former consensus four-star prospects with the aplomb of a Vegas street-juggler.
Second-year Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, whose No. 12 Irish (7-2) travel Saturday to Clemson (4-4), points not to McCullough’s dexterity but rather his authenticity.
”It always starts with trust,” Freeman said to FootballScoop’s question. “The connection Coach McCullough has with the guys in the room -- and the guys in the room trust the decisions we make as a coaching staff and him as the running backs coach are what’s in the best interest of Notre Dame, but also with his players. I’ve always believed the foundation of any strong room starts with trust.”
Take Irish tailback Audric Estimè. A junior bruiser who was named New Jersey’s 2020 Football Player of the Year, Estimè has amassed 901 rushing yards – top-10 in the nation, fourth-most among Power 5 tailbacks – through nine games – but barely played after halftime through the first three weeks of Notre Dame’s season.
Jadarian Price, a redshirt-freshman who sat out last season after he ruptured an Achilles tendon, has just 31 offensive touches thus far – but Price provided the spark that broke the USC Trojan horse’s back last month when he galloped 99 yards to paydirt on a kickoff return.
“Coach McCullough does a great job of mixing the load up and sharing the load within all the running backs, as you all have seen,” Price said. “He plays a lot of backs. There’s a method behind that and it’s working.”
McCullough, as FootballScoop previously outlined, spoke before the season about his jobs list for members of his running backs room.
“I have a thing where I post running back jobs,” McCullough, a 2022 FootballScoop Minority Rising Stars selection, said earlier, “and they know out of these eight or nine jobs, it’s not going to be one guy doing them.”
Preseason talk has borne in-season reality. Four different ball-carriers all own more than 100 rushing yards on the season, and the quartet also combined for 36 receptions.
“I think (McCullough’s) done a great job of doing that, balancing the room,” first-year Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker said. “I think he’s been so up front and honest with them, about their roles and why. I think his experience and being part of the NFL and being able to share some thoughts from those guys, whether it be our No. 1 or our No. 5, he’s kept those guys well-informed and then maybe not let some of the selfishness that does exist creep in because they understand.
“He’s done a really good job with his communication, so I think he’s put those guys in a position where they understand his expectations but understand the ‘Why’ and it’s balanced the room up pretty good. And it’s a testament to those guys. They want the ball more, all of them do, but they’re great kids (and) they’ve done a nice job for us this year.”
When Price scored against USC, he was mobbed by teammates – his backfield partners included. Second-year back Gi’Bran hasn’t carved quite the role of Estimè, Price or budding freshman sensation Jeremiyah Love, but Payne has scored three times – including the opening salvo in that 48-20 win against the Trojans.
McCullough signed the underclassmen Love, Payne and Price, as well as Penn State transfer Devyn Ford -- who has emerged as a special teams dynamo.
One of the best elements of viewing some portions of @NDFootball practice is watching @coachdmc unleash new teaching methods to Irish running backs. Today: a new jump-cut drill: pic.twitter.com/5ndOCN2X1u
— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) August 17, 2022
But, Freeman said, the players have responded to McCullough – who honed his collegiate development skills the past two seasons at Notre Dame after helping the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LIV.
“It’s a credit to the unselfishness of those guys. You have a lot of talented running backs that have continued to develop,” said Freeman, a former FootballScoop Minority Rising Star selection. “The skillset is continuing to develop, but they’re unselfish. Whoever is in the game, that’s what’s best for our team. They take advantage of their opportunities and maybe don’t count every rep - make your reps county but don’t count every rep.
“I’m really pleased with that room. Audric - the development of him over the past three years. Then you have Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price - really where they started from and where they’re at now is a credit to Coach McCullough and his development, but also the trust and unselfishness of those guys.”