EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - OCTOBER 01: Dexter Williams #2 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish breaks away and runs the ball in for a touchdown in the second half against the Syracuse Orange at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Syracuse Orange 50-33. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Dexter Williams was a game changer for Notre Dame in 2018. His departure to the NFL leaves some big shoes to fill.

As much of a difference as Ian Book made for the offense in 2018, equally important was Dexter Williams. Williams was suspended for the first four games of Notre Dame’s 2018 season. In three of those four games, the offense struggled to move up and down the field much at all. When he came back against Stanford, he ran for 161 yards.

Williams was an explosive number 1 back for the Irish. He carried them to an undefeated regular season.

A solid-to-great No. 1 running back hasn’t been uncommon under Brian Kelly, but Williams seemed to be the most natural. Players, like Josh Adams, were excellent. However, Adams and many like him have been the beneficiaries of monster offensive lines for the Irish. Williams had a very good offensive line, but it felt like he was simply more graceful.

Now Williams needs to be replaced. That’s the nature of college football. It’s a cycle of finding, developing, and replacing talent.

Due to the suspension Dexter Williams received, the most likely replacements to Williams already saw some important game action. They are Jafar Armstrong and Tony Jones Jr. Armstrong’s best game, in Williams’ absence, was against Wake Forest. Armstrong ran for 98 yards, on 8 carries, with two touchdowns. None of his other games without Williams were great. Jones Jr, on the other hand, had his best game against Vanderbilt. He ran for 118 yards on 17 carries.

Both ran for a little under 400 total yards on the season. Armstrong ran for more touchdowns, and would’ve had more yardage if he didn’t miss three games with an injury. For that reason, Jafar Armstrong will likely start the spring as the favorite to win the starting running back job.

This could change. Jones Jr is going to be a senior, and has more experience than Armstrong. He also managed to stay healthy last season. He did outgain Armstrong by 15 yards, so it isn’t impossible to talk oneself into Jones Jr. as next season’s likely starter.

It’s not impossible that someone else makes a run at the starting job this Spring and Summer. That said, any player who does that would probably be a relative unknown at this point. Furthermore, it is unlikely that either Armstrong or Jones Jr becomes the primary starter. What is much more likely is that Notre Dame uses a running back by committee system in 2019. That’s what Kelly and Long showed last season. It’s what makes sense going forward.

The truth is you don’t ever really replace a player like Dexter Williams. You adjust your style of play. As a coach, you look to adapt your style in order to put players in the best position to win. With that said, the running game for Notre Dame should be a little different in 2019 than in 2018. There will probably be growing pains. It’s the nature of the game.