Notre Dame RB Jafar Armstrong Has Big Game Focus
Notre Dame has played in several big games over the last few seasons, but Saturday’s game against Stanford pits the No. 7 and No. 8 ranked teams in the country against each other.
Notre Dame Stadium hasn’t hosted a Top 8 matchup since September of 1996 when No. 5 Notre Dame hosted No. 4 Ohio State.
Running back Jafar Armstrong knows Saturday is a huge game and he will be dialing back his time on his phone this week as he hopes to stay locked in on the Cardinal.
“Stay off Social Media and focus on the game plan,” stated Armstrong. “You have to focus on playing for your brothers and teammates. When there is the distraction of your parents texting you, fans DMing you or your friends texting you, you get out of your zone a little bit. We have to make sure we’re focused and ready for the game.”
The sophomore got his first start against Michigan and ran 15 times for 35 yards, but he also scored two touchdowns. Armstrong expects a similar type of atmosphere on Saturday and feels the Irish will need a loud crowd to carry them home.
“It will be a Michigan-type crowd,” said Armstrong. “It’s rivalry game. When the crowd is hype, we get hype. The crowd does a great job coming out to support us.”
If Saturday night wasn’t big enough already, the Notre Dame running backs will get an added boost as senior Dexter Williams will return to the lineup.
“More speed and explosiveness,” Armstrong said of what Williams brings to the team. “His personality shines throughout the whole group. We’re excited to have him back. He adds an extra guy who can break it at any time.”
Despite a full backfield, Armstrong is more than happy for Williams to return to the field.
“We’re all close, and we work well together,” explained Armstrong. “It’s the extra competition. When Tony does good, then I know it’s my turn. We all have the same thing about us. We’re always competing, but we’re great friends.”
As for his own game, Armstrong is coming off the best game of his career as he rushed eight times for 98 yards and two touchdowns against Wake Forest.
“I’ve improved a lot,” Armstrong stated. “The first game you see on film, I don’t think I was finishing that well, and I was getting tackled by one guy. You look back at the last game, and you see the improvement. You see me finishing off tackles and breaking tackles. The more I play, the more I’m going to get more comfortable out there.
“I’m always comfortable, but there are always things you have to work on. The first few games, I felt I had more things to work on. You can see the improvements on film the coaches had for me.”
In addition to Armstrong’s big game, the Irish offense turned a corner by scoring 56 points. Ian Book got the start at quarterback, but Armstrong believes the execution and preparation helped the Irish offense more than the quarterback change.
“I don’t think there was anything different, but the preparation we had and the way we went into the game changed,” said Armstrong. “Besides that, I felt it was the same game plan and same mentality. We were more prepared and ready to get the job done.”