Injuries thin Notre Dame's backfield, forcing rising stars Nolan James Jr. and Jonaz Walton into prime opportunities this spring.
Notre Dame is set to kickoff its 2026 spring practices on Friday, but the roster will be a bit short as the Irish have injuries at a number of positions. Notre Dame will be shorthanded at several positions this spring, with running back being hit harder than any other group. This will create challenges for the offensive staff at Notre Dame, but it also opens up opportunities for several players.
Notre Dame will be down 16 total players this spring, either players being limited or players being completely out. That's not an abnormal number for a team in spring, but three of the five scholarship running backs are either no contact or completely out this spring. Rising junior Aneyas Williams will be held out of contact all spring as he recovers from elbow surgery. Redshirt sophomore Kedren Young is still recovering from the ACL injury he suffered in August, and true freshman Javian Osborne is recovering from surgery on his left wrist.
Notre Dame coaches will have to figure out a way to get through spring practice with just two scholarship running backs being full go. Those two backs are redshirt freshman Nolan James Jr. and early enrollee freshman Jonaz Walton.
"We had to add some depth there, just to practice," explained Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. "We got a couple new guys that joined the team. We had a couple walk-ons join the team. We had tryouts, and they'll help us in terms of numbers."
With Williams being held out of contact periods, James and Walton will get a lot of work. The challenge for the coaches is giving them work without wearing them out.
"The guys that are healthy, they'll get plenty of opportunities, but we can't kill them either," Freeman explained. "We can't put so much load on those guys that they have diminishing returns. We have to be able to spread the workload, and one of the important things for us to do is to get a couple guys at least to give us reps, so we can practice and develop the depth of our team."
Yes, it's a challenge for the coaches, and the injured backs won't get an opportunity to make a move up the depth chart, but it's also a tremendous opportunity for James and Walton. Williams is expected to win the starting job, but he also still has plenty to prove if he's going to win and hold onto that job. James made a good impression on those within the program during his first season, and Walton was a big time pickup for the Irish in the 2026 recruiting class.
James is a similar back to Williams, possessing a nice power of vision, power and pass catching ability. He had a dominant senior season at Westwood, N.J./DePaul Catholic, rushing for 1,921 yards and 19 touchdowns. James finished his career with a 29-carry, 244-yard performance in a state championship winning performance. James finished his prep career with 4,118 rushing yards, 1,120 receiving yards and 48 total touchdowns. He'll likely get a good chunk of the first team touches behind the starting offensive line. If he is able to stay healthy this spring and put his best foot forward, James could put himself in position to compete for a vital role in the fall.
Walton also had a brilliant career at Carrollton, Ga./Central. He rushed for 5,965 yards in his career, caught 99 passes for 1,440 yards and had 81 offensive touchdowns. He also returned four kicks for touchdowns during his career at Central. Walton rushed for at least 1,251 yards in each of his four seasons. Walton will likely start the spring a bit behind as he continues to learn the offense, but the heavier than expected workload presents him with a great opportunity. He'll make some early mistakes, but those early reps should allow him to show a lot of progress during the spring as well.
This opportunity could allow James and Walton to vault their way up the RB depth chart and put themselves in position to earn a lot of carries in the fall. Even if they don't earn starting roles, the additional work should allow them both to be in better position to help in the fall, which makes the backfield stronger by the time the season kicks off.
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