Notre Dame Football Has Another Rising Star at Running Back

Notre Dame Football Has Another Rising Star at Running Back

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Notre Dame Football Has Another Rising Star at Running Back
Notre Dame running back Jonaz Walton during the 2026 win over Stanford
Oct 10, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jonaz Walton (20) runs the ball against the Stanford Cardinal during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Don't look now, but Notre Dame appears to have found its difference-maker at running back.

No, he's not the same kind of runner that Jeremiyah Love was for Notre Dame the last couple of years, and he's even different from Jadarian Price, another first-round draft pick, but Jonaz Walton is looking every bit the part of being Notre Dame's next great running back.

The last three weeks have seen Walton go from emerging player to developing into a superstar.

Walton rushed for a Notre Dame true freshman record 181 yards in the 58-7 victory over Stanford, in large part thanks to his 97 yard touchdown dash in the second quarter.

Jonaz Walton Receives Significant National Praise

After Walton's impressive showing Saturday, he vaulted to the top of the Pro Football Focus running back rankings for the 2026 season.

No, not for just Week 6, but for the entire year to date.

Walton was also the highest rated freshman from Week 6 by Pro Football Focus.

As great as the story of Aneyas Williams sticking around is, and as much as you want to root for Nolan James, Jr. to have great success, its crystal clear that Walton has a gear that the others in the running back room can't currently touch.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

I have to be honest and say that there is a bit of a Catch-22 here with these ratings.

If there are ratings then you hope that your team and your players are as close to the top as possible – that's simply human nature.

However, with ratings from Pro Football Focus, I have trouble valuing them too much.

They rely on subjective film analysis and not anything statistical. Just like how fantasy football predictive statistics are only valuable if they're correct, the same goes for these.

Many have felt for a long time that these ratings overlook context of a play or game, which is certainly hard to argue against.

That all said, it's pretty much impossible to argue against what we've seen from Walton the last few weeks. He has breakaway speed, coupled with better vision that allows him to anticipate and hit holes that Williams and James have both struggled to do.

Now, as good as Walton has been, it's one thing to do it against North Carolina or Stanford, and another to be able to do it at BYU.

Walton can tear up the track all he wants against what Notre Dame has faced to date, but do it against BYU this week and have a night against Miami a few weeks out, and the whole nation really will be talking about him being one of the best around.

Today's best reads

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/notredame as Notre Dame Football Has Another Rising Star at Running Back.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos