Notre Dame running back Audric Estime entered his sophomore season with 60 career rushing yards on seven carries.
Yet, there was excitement around the 5-foot-11, 227-pounder to have a more significant role. Estime didn’t disappoint as he toted the rock 156 times for 920 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The New Jersey native now has his goals set higher, which has led to Estime working even harder this offseason after tasting success.
Estime is still the bruising presence the nation saw last fall, but he’s trimmer after three months of focusing on his diet.
“The first step was losing body fat,” Estime stated. “Going into the offseason, I prided myself on being more strict on my diet and being more mindful of the calories I’m taking in and all the supplements. I lost a good amount of weight and body fat, but my muscle and muscle mass stayed up there. I feel that kind of helped me.
“All the indy periods, footwork drills we do with Coach Deland (McCullough) is definitely paying off.”
McCullough has made sure to push Estime, Logan Diggs and the other running backs this spring as he knows his room can be better than it was in 2022.
“Just continuing to build on what we did last season,” McCullough said. “You’re only as good as your last snap out there. We did some good things to end last season, but now it’s a new thing. What have you done lately?”
What has Estime done lately? Outside of working on his weight and body fat, Estime is dialed in on improving as a pass-blocker.
Pere PFF, Estime wasn’t used a ton in pass situations as a blocker and it’s an area he hopes to make strides in over the next five months.
“I feel like I can get better at it,” explained Estime. Just be more detailed, bringing my feet with me more, using my hands instead of my forearms, just being more detailed and block recognition. I feel like Coach Deland emphasizes that every day. And that's something that we're all getting better at as a whole group.”
With his added quickness, Estime hopes to also be a little more involved on the other end of the passing game. Estime recorded nine receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown last fall, but hopes to put himself in a position to be more of a threat when the ball is in the air.
”I don't think it was something I had to improve upon,” said Estime. “It's just, it is what it is. It's just when the pass play was in another back was in. And if I was in, I was gonna have to execute the play as well as other backs. So, that's something I feel like I got better at this offseason, running routes and my route detail.
“But that's something that I had pride in. I feel like I take as much pride (in) running routes as running the ball or blocking. So, that's something I feel like I work on every day and when I get the opportunity again you guys will see.”
Notre Dame may have a new offensive coordinator in Gerad Parker, but don’t think the Irish will get away from handing the ball off the stable of backs. Estime also believes the familiarity with the offensive scheme will help him take his game to the next level as he knows the offense and where the holes or cut-back lanes will be.
“I feel like we have a lot of things that are the same,” Estime said. “I think just being in the system for a third year, I feel like things are just getting a lot slower for me. Reads are a lot slower. I'm running to where I need to be instead of where I want to be. I think things are getting processed a lot different in my head pre-snap.”
The Irish offense slowed things down a year ago, but with experience at quarterback, Notre Dame could make a few tweaks to play a little faster.
And if Parker decides to speed the offense up, Estime believes the Irish will be more than ready.
“Tempo definitely brings momentum especially when we're executing and making plays,” said Estime. “And that definitely gives us an advantage over the defense. At Notre Dame, we pride ourselves as the hardest-working team. And all season we're gonna outlift you, we're gonna out condition you and when we run tempo, we get a chance to show our offseason compared to other teams. So I feel like running a fast-paced offense definitely helps us out a lot.”
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