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From one Williams to another, Notre Dame football passes down blitz-pickup role

SOUTH BEND — When it comes to blitz pickup, former Notre Dame football running back Kyren Williams was in a class of his own.

“He was the best I ever saw in terms of picking up pass protection,” former two-time Notre Dame All-America offensive lineman Aaron Taylor said in a recent interview. “He loved it, and he was so physical and so dominant.”

Now starring for the Los Angeles Rams, Williams created a cult following among football heads during his Notre Dame career from 2019-21. The St. Louis product accounted for 31 touchdowns and more than 3,000 all-purpose yards with the Irish, but it was his physicality in protecting his quarterback (first Ian Book and later Jack Coan) that delighted those who know the game best.

“We would cut tape up and send clips around to everybody within all of our text threads,” said Taylor, a CBS national studio analyst and founding member of the Joe Moore Award selection committee. “A lot of it was (Williams) just absolutely lambasting people that made the mistake of trying to blitz the quarterback.”

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Three games into his Notre Dame career, freshman running back Aneyas Williams has shown a knack for such quick-thinking reliability. The four-star signee from Hannibal, Mo., 117 miles from St. Louis, doesn’t back down from blitzers at 5-foot-10 and 206 pounds.

“He’s done a really good job of all those things we’ve asked him to do to be one of the most trusted guys we have on third down,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in his Thursday Zoom update. “To be in there, to put the ball in his hands in crucial situations, it speaks to the job he’s done and the trust he’s earned from his coaches.”

Aneyas Williams, a skilled pass-catcher as well, has allowed just…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/one-williams-another-notre-dame-190215491.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-09-19 19:02:15

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

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