Why Notre Dame RB Gi’Bran Payne will have a role on offense after a positive preseason camp
On Nov. 19, Gi’Bran Payne emerged from the bottom of the Notre Dame depth chart to plow his way through the South Bend snow during a 44-0 Fighting Irish victory over Boston College … for two handoffs.
Until last mid-November, the 5-foot-9 ⅛, 208-pound Payne spent his freshman season on the pine behind a three-headed rushing attack that featured Audric Estimé, Logan Diggs and Chris Tyree.
Since then, the running backs room has changed quite a bit following the flurried Notre Dame home season finale.
At the start of last spring, Tyree transitioned full-time to wide receiver. Then, Diggs ditched Notre Dame for a transfer to LSU. Even beforehand, Diggs preserved himself toward the spring’s end, leaving Estimé and Payne as the only two scholarship running backs available for the Blue-Gold Game on April 22.
Payne actually ended up being the first overall pick in the Notre Dame intrasquad scrimmage team draft over Estimé. He capped off what running backs coach Deland McCullough called “a great spring” with an 11-carry, 51-yard spring game outing, which included a 30-yard run. It began a sophomore season of expectations made possible by pushing through a freshman year of hardship.
“College football was a hard transition for me,” Payne told Notre Dame print reporters on Tuesday evening. “So (I’ve learned) a little bit of everything. It was a good thing for me to kind of sit back and watch Audric, Logan, Chris Tyree. That helped me a lot.”
After Notre Dame completed its spring session, it reloaded the running backs room with three additional scholarship backs. In May, it first picked up Devyn Ford from Penn State in the transfer portal. It then added freshman signed Jeremiyah Love in June. And in July, head coach Marcus Freeman declared sophomore Jadarian Price a full-go for fall camp.
The three new additions attempted to cast a shadow over Payne’s spring performance. But after adding a strong summer showing, McCullough spotlighted just how valuable the Cincinnati Lasalle High product is to this Notre Dame squad.
“Gi’Bran brings a whole lot to the table just because of his high football IQ and his will to get the job done. He’s very detailed,” McCullough said. “Coming out of camp, off the top of my head, he probably consistently graded as the highest guy in the room. Maybe Audric was right there close to him. Gi’Bran came out 92-93 percent.”
Payne said his feel for the game and his health are his game’s biggest upgrades from his first to second season. It has propelled his positive preseason camp performance, which should progress into meaningful playing time for the Irish in 2023.
Payne prepped for a role with the 2023 Notre Dame offense
Although this year’s Notre Dame running backs corps presents a few new faces, there are similarities with the group’s depth in 2023. Payne complimented the group’s versatility, mentioning they can handle diverse situations on game day.
Except Payne is no longer watching Estimé-Diggs-Tyree handle the workload. He’s set to become a contributor to a five-headed monster backfield for the Fighting Irish in 2023.
“Gi’Bran is somebody who can run the ball with power and vision,” McCullough said. “He can pass protect really, really good. He can move the chains as a short-yardage guy. And he has power … because of his compact build. (He can) get behind his pads with a great leg drive.”
Payne compared his running style to current NFL running backs Saquon Barkley and Dalvin Cook. He specifically noted his downhill approach, with elements of physicality and speed.
While injuries mostly hindered his high school career, Payne still completed it with nearly 1,300 yards rushing, 500 yards receiving and 23 touchdowns. He picked up full-ride scholarship offers from 20 Power Five programs, including Alabama, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Penn State and Washington.
Payne verbally committed to Indiana on July 26, 2021. He eventually signed with the Hoosiers in December while McCullough was the program’s associate head coach and running backs coach. But McCullough left the program for Notre Dame in the January of 2022. And Payne asked for and was granted a release from his national letter of intent two months later. That put into action about a five-week transfer process that led to him choosing Notre Dame over Kentucky on April 15, 2022.
“After I got released, Notre Dame was already in my top five,” Payne said. “So when he came over here, it was basically a no-brainer for me. … Actually, I never imagined that I would end up here. It was just a blessing to be able to play college football. I definitely didn’t imagine that I would be here.”
Once he arrived on campus in June 2022, Payne said the Notre Dame staff gave him a “warm welcome” and made it feel like a “home away from home.” However, that did not prevent Payne from facing plenty of challenges, which he ultimately prevailed through.
Before his offensive debut against Boston College, Payne appeared in his first collegiate game against Navy on Nov. 11. He took over the “off-returner” role on the kick return unit and maintained it for the remainder of the season. His four collegiate games in 2022 secured a redshirt season, giving him four years of eligibility remaining;
Payne did not disclose his defined role on offense to start the 2023 season. However, he will resume his position as one of the kick returners and likely on the kickoff coverage team. And if McCullough’s word is worth anything, Payne should see the field much sooner than Notre Dame’s 11th game of the season, too.
“(Gi’Bran’s) extremely reliable, extremely dependable,” McCullough said. “He continues to be available for us to do the things we do. He brings the element of power that I think people may not realize and has a high football IQ that separates him from other guys.”
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