Film Study: Notre Dame RB commit Josh Adams

RB commit Josh Adams, 6-2, 210; Warrington (Pa.) Central Bucks South.

The numbers: Adams became a scoring machine in his senior season. His 209 carries resulted in 1,618 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also caught 17 passes for 267 yards and four touchdowns. Central Bucks South (7-4) struggled in the final month of the season as Adams missed time with an ankle injury.

The rankings: 247Sports – Four stars, No. 18 running back, No. 186 overall. Rivals – Three stars, No. 46 running back.

FILM BREAKDOWN

First impression: Adams stands out with his tall frame and long strides on a field with inferior competition. At times he looks like a sprinter in the open field racing against an internal clock rather than slower defenders. He runs a bit stiff and upright but showed little sign of lingering issues from his ACL surgery as a junior.

Strengths: Adams wastes no time getting up field when working behind his offensive line. He reads the blocks well, makes quick cuts and starts his sprint forward. Adams breaks away with ease and rarely has a defender closing the gap between them while in pursuit. He looks comfortable catching screens and waiting for his blockers to set up a path on the outside. When changing direction, Adams cuts quickly and has the ability to resume acceleration in short order.

He did what? (0:22) Adams strings a number of nice cuts together to find a path down the sideline to the end zone, but his best move comes inside the 10-yard line when he jumps to his right to avoid a defender who beat him to the goal line with a better angle … (3:14) Adams lowers his shoulders to squeeze through three defenders after taking the snap out of the wildcat formation … (8:43) Adams jukes one defender, high steps past another and jumps into a would-be tackler but shrugs him off and manages to keep his balance to find the end zone … (9:09) Adams spins off a defender almost immediately after taking the handoff and finds a lane outside for another long touchdown.

Competition level: It’s easy to see that Adams is in a different talent class than most of the defenders asked to try to stop him. At times, Adams was a one-man offense for Central Bucks. He won’t be able to break open big runs as easily at the college level.

Left to prove: Adams will need to learn how to run through tacklers that are stronger than him. He rarely had to bounce off traffic in high school, and when he did, he was usually the bigger and faster than his defenders. Adams will be forced to lower his pad level once he adjusts to the size and speed surrounding him. He could probably add some good weight to his frame to become a better back between the tackles. As always with someone who has suffered an ACL injury, Adams will need to continue to prove his knee problems are behind him.

tjames@ndinsider.com | 574-235-6214 | Twitter: @TJamesNDI