Pat Haden

Notre Dame tailback Darius Walker has a lot of attributes. He's smart, quick, fast, strong, and sees the field particularly well.

Only a sophomore, the former Georgia high school standout has a chance at having a very big college career.

A sign of things to come
The Irish didn't have a slew of bright spots last season in posting a .500 record, but they found a real gem in Walker, who made his collegiate debut something that Notre Dame fans will never forget as he ran for 115 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 28-20 upset of Michigan.

Walker would surpass the century mark in rushing in only one other game last season (112 yards vs. Pittsburgh), but he went on to set the Notre Dame freshman rushing record by gaining 786 yards on 185 carries, an average of 4.2 yards per carry.

The No. 1 option in the Irish run game, Walker's sophomore season is off to a great start. Walker is the first Irish running back to start a season with four consecutive 100-yard rushing performances. He ran for an even 100 yards in the season opener against Pittsburgh, and has followed that by rushing for 104 yards vs. Michigan, 116 yards vs. Michigan State, and a career-high 128 yards vs. Washington.

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Lee Becton holds the Notre Dame record for consecutive games running for over 100 yards with seven, so a bit of history making could be in Walker's near future as to break Becton's mark he'll need to run for more than 100 yards against the next four Irish opponents: Purdue, USC, BYU and Tennessee.

Proven durability
At 5-foot-10 and 208 pounds, Walker doesn’t have the typical body for a back who is a workhorse, but he is powerful enough to move piles, and quick and nimble enough to go around them. He's strong, but seems to have a knack for not taking a lot of direct hits. He owes his ability to avoid a lot of potentially crunching tackles to his quick feet.

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Anyone who watches Walker on a consistent basis will notice he runs out of bounds a lot -- which I kind of like myself. Over the course of a long season, what this accomplishes is that it protects Walker some against injury. I would think this is strategic on Walker's part, and I don't view it as a negative at all. Rather, I think it's smart football on the part of Walker.

I know after the Notre Dame win on Sept. 24 over Washington, Irish coach Charlie Weis was asked about Walker going out of bounds so much, and Weis had no problem with his star tailback's approach to running the football. Weis feels Walker knows when it's necessary to put his shoulder down and go for more yardage, taking a hit in doing so. But he also thinks Walker is smart enough to avoid risking injury when possible.

More than any other position, I think running back is where a player takes an incredible beating to his body over the course of a season. So I agree with Weis and Walker. When there is nothing left to gain from a play, a smart running back will get out of bounds if he can and protect himself from injury.

Becoming a complete running back
The big adjustment for tailbacks going from high school to college is not so much in the running game, but it's in pass blocking. And that's where I feel Walker has made a quantum leap from his freshman season to his sophomore year.

Credit Notre Dame's new offensive coordinator and running backs coach Mike Haywood with developing Walker as both a blocker and pass catcher out of the backfield. Weis says that Walker has expressed a desire to be a complete back, and so it's been a mission of his and Haywood's to make him just that.

The progress they've made is unmistakable. Last year Walker wasn't used a lot in the passing game, but this season he has much more than a limited role in the Irish air attack. After catching just 10 passes for 74 yards as a freshman, Walker -- through his first four games as a sophomore -- was third on the team in receptions with 16 for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

Notre Dame no longer has to hide Walker in its passing game as he's become a real asset catching the football. I think by the end of the season Notre Dame will be a very good screen team. Some of the screens the Irish have run so far have not worked, but I think as the season moves along the screen pass will be a key weapon for the Irish. Walker already has taken one screen pass in for a touchdown.

And he's doing the job blocking on blitzing linebackers and safeties -- something that star high school running backs like Walker was at Buford (Ga.) High School don't do while in the prep ranks. It's something they have to learn in college, and Walker has put his mind to learning it.