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Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State only 60 days away

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•07/05/22•

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notre dame audric estime
Notre Dame sophomore running back Audric Estime (Chad Weaver/BGI)

To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.

This daily series of 99 stories celebrates by the numbers some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football. 

With 60 days remaining until kickoff, we look at a certain Notre Dame running back who has 60 rushing yards in his young career.

Let’s preface this edition of the countdown to kickoff with this: No Notre Dame fan wants to remember the 1960 season. It was one of the worst in school history, one of just three seasons in which the Irish have only won two games. They’ve never won less.

So that’s that. Leave it there.

As it turns out, there aren’t too many significant attachments to the No. 60 in Notre Dame football history. Thus, might as well use this space to examine a player who has 60 rushing yards in his career and is in line to gain many more in 2022. Sophomore running back Audric Estime.

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Suddenly, as it stands in early July, Estime is the No. 2 running back on the depth chart due to fellow sophomore Logan Diggs‘ shoulder surgery. Diggs is expected back sometime in September, but that’s an expedited timetable. He didn’t have the surgery until late April. Head coach Marcus Freeman said he doesn’t want to rush him back.

Estime and freshman Jadarian Price seemed likely to share second-string reps behind junior Chris Tyree, but Price was lost for the season late last month with an Achilles tendon tear. It’s Tyree, Estime and summer-enrollee freshman Gi’Bran Payne as far as Notre Dame scholarship running backs go. That’s it.

Sixty-one of Estime’s yards came in one game. He rushed six times in the blowout victory over Georgia Tech. He lost one yard on his only carry in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State. He might exceed the seven carries he has to his name in the season-opener at Ohio State with the way the Notre Dame running back room is currently constructed.

Ironically, the 5-11 1/2, 228-pound bruiser of a back changed his number from 24 to seven this season. Notre Dame fans might get flashbacks to Jerome Bettis, another big-bodied back, barreling through opponents with a single-digit jersey number. If that’s the comparison they’re able to draw, Estime is in for quite a career.

It starts in earnest this fall with a heightened workload expected.

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