Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Michigan State and USC, respectively. This year, he had touchdown runs of 56 and 55 yards, respectively, during 50-10 and 41-3 blowouts of Navy and Miami, and he also scored the game winner from two yards with 12:52 left in the 17-14 victory over BYU Oct. 20. The coaching staff tried to find creative ways to get Atkinson more touches, but the Riddick/Wood tandem was too reliable to leave off the field. Among the areas where Atkinson must improve appreciably are as a viable pass receiving threat, ball security and lower pad level and aggressiveness with his angular 6-1 frame to not make himself such an easy target to bring down. Whereas Riddick was the archetype of the hybrid running back/slot position that created potential mismatches in the slot for a defense, Atkinson is not a natural out wide and caught only two passes for four yards in 2012. Backfield By Committee With Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood now pursuing NFL dreams, the 2013 Notre Dame backfield will have to replace the second-most rushing yards ever produced in the previous season by two individuals in the program. Theo Riddick (917 yards rushing) and Cierre Wood (742) combined for 1,659 yards on the ground in 2012. That is second at Notre Dame only to the 2,358 that the Fighting Irish had to replace at the start of the 1993 season minus Reggie Brooks (1,458 in 1992) and Jerome "The Bus" Bettis (900), including the 28-3 Cotton Bowl victory versus Texas A&M for a 10-1-1 finish. Despite the departure of Brooks and Bettis, Notre Dame barely missed a beat during an 11-1, No. 2 season in 1993, although it did not have nearly as dynamic a one-two punch without Brooks and Bettis. Nevertheless, junior Lee Becton rushed for 1,182 yards and 6.4 yards per carry, junior fullback Ray Zellars (519 yards) eventually developed into a second-round pick, and freshmen Randy Kinder (537 yards), Marc Edwards (192 yards and a team high nine touchdowns) and Robert Farmer (168 yards) complemented the unit. — Lou Somogyi In baseball vernacular, Atkinson III has the 30 home runs per season potential in the cleanup slot, but it will be more important in his role to avoid the .200 batting average to be consistently in the lineup. The Versatile Dark Horse Sophomore Cam McDaniel excelled in 2012 mop-up roles, carrying nine times for 59 yards versus Navy and 11 times for 55 yards against Miami, which accounted for his lion's share of his 23 carries for 125 yards (5.4 per carry) and one score. He also snared 20- and 21-yard catches. McDaniel actually worked at cornerback last spring before returning to offense in August. The strength of the 5-11, 195-pound Texan is he has a command of the inside-outside zoneblocking scheme that was emphasized more under first-year line coach Harry Hiestand in 2012 and preferred by Kelly, and might be the most natural for it. Although not as big or fast or hyped as some of his competition, McDaniel