Room for improvement
By JOE HETTLER
Associate Sports Editor
Ryan Grant was happy Notre Dame won 22-0 against Maryland on Saturday. He couldn't say the same about his own performance, however.
"First and foremost we won the game," Grant said. "That was the task that we came there to take care of. We went down there, and we did that job. It was a good win for us as a team to start things off the right way for the season, kind of get us on a little roll. That was really a great point for our squad."
The sophomore running back carried the ball 23 times for 66 yards against the Terrapins, which is an average of just under 2.9 yards per carry. For Grant, that's just not good enough.
"On a personal note, I'm not very happy with my performance, but I understand that it's behind me now and I'm going to just make the best of this week and understand that I can't let that happen again," Grant said.
For Notre Dame's offense to be effective against the likes of Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State in the next few weeks, its running game must improve. While offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick says he will use three backs — Grant, Marcus Wilson and Rashon Powers-Neal — it seems Grant will get the most touches. Against Maryland, Wilson had four yards on two carries, while Powers-Neal gained 33 yards on eight carries.
The trio, along with quarterback Carlyle Holiday, combined for 45 carries and a meager 130 yards. The Irish look to improve on that number this weekend by hitting open holes quicker as well as gaining yards after the initial hit from a defender.
"I think from a running standpoint, we need to improve our vision a little bit and become a little bit more aggressive and start running through some tackles," Diedrick said.
It doesn't get any easier for Notre Dame's running backs when they face Purdue because, much like Maryland's E.J. Henderson, the Boilermakers have an outstanding linebacker in Landon Johnson, who Purdue coach Joe Tiller considers the best linebacker in the Big Ten Conference.
Therefore Grant has taken last week's performance and used it as motivation in his preparations for Notre Dame's home opener this weekend.
"[I need to work on] everything, hitting the holes better, vision, patience, being patience in this offense is something we've been talking about," Grant said. "Just knowing in my head that that happened and never letting that happened again. Understand that it's behind me but in the back of mind knowing I never want that to happen again. I just want to move on."
Move on to being the type of running back that carried the ball 13 times, gaining 77 yards and scoring a touchdown against Purdue last season. If he has success like that, Grant believes the Irish offense will become very tough for opponents to stop.
"I think the offense can be outstanding." Grant said. "The potential right now that we have is phenomenal talent-wise. What the coaches are installing right now is really, really great, and I'm really looking to getting things going."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, September 5, 2002
