C.J. Prosise, Notre Dame’s surprise breakout star at running back, will forgo his final season for a chance at the NFL.
The senior announced the move on his Instagram page this afternoon:
After a lot of thought and reflection I have decided to forego my remaining eligibility and declare for the NFL Draft. Thank you to Notre Dame, the coaches, staff, faculty and fans. I couldn’t have asked for a better university to play for, it’s been an honor to have played with Team 127 and I’m glad to have had the opportunity. I look forward to what lies ahead. Thank you, Go Irish!!!
(Mike DiNovo/USA Today Sports)
Prosise was recruited from Woodberry Forest High School in Virginia as a safety. He moved to wide receiver soon after joining the Irish, but primarily contributed on special teams in his sophomore and junior seasons. Irish coaches, likely anticipating the loss of Greg Bryant for the year due to academic issues, moved Prosise to running back during the spring.
Prosise was thrust into the featured back role when Tarean Folston tore his ACL in the Irish’s third play of the season. Prosise rushed for 1,032 yards and caught 26 passes for an additional 308 yards, while missing action in parts or all of four games (including Friday’s Fiesta Bowl).
While Bryant has moved on, the emergence of freshman Josh Adams and the return of Folston would probably have negatively impacted Prosise’s touches next year. With a running back class in 2017 that includes Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb, Prosise probably reasoned that this one productive season was enough to earn a spot on an NFL roster.
Prosise recently received a grade from the NFL Draft committee, but declined to disclose what it was.
In a recent podcast, Irish Illustrated’s Pete Sampson gave the best reasoning I’ve heard for Prosise to leave.
He’ll graduate. He’s a running back. And I can’t think of a fifth year running back that wasn’t suspended that came back. You just don’t see that.
Is he going to be a whole lot better next year? Probably not. He could be a little bit better. He is what he is. [If he stayed], he could maybe go from a fourth round pick to a third round pick. And are you better off starting to cash your checks now? Running backs have a short career.
Theo Riddick was a fifth round pick, played running back full time one year – played a lot more football than C.J. Prosise, of course. But C.J. Prosise is a lot more explosive athlete. Cierre Wood is still bouncing around the league. Jonas Gray is bouncing around the league. Darius Walker hung around a little bit. I think all those guys – if you’re athletic enough to do it, do it. And I think C.J. Prosise is athletic enough to do it.
My fellow contributor, Moons, offered his own take on whether Prosise should stay or go in a post two weeks ago.
Notre Dame graduate, class of '02 (the Davie years!). A former newspaper and TV reporter, andrewwinn is now professionally involved in something far less fun to discuss than college football. A dad, a husband and a wannabe data nerd.
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