Where does Notre Dame's CJ Prosise rank among elite RBs?

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In the span of a year, C.J. Prosise went from being an occasional playmaker to the focal point of Notre Dame's offense.

The slot receiver-turned-running back flashed that big-play ability on 29 receptions in 2014, racking up 516 yards, and raced 50 yards on a jet sweep for a touchdown against LSU in the Music City Bowl.

But in moving Prosise to running back earlier this year -- and after junior Tarean Folston suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 against Texas -- Notre Dame not only found the best running back it's hard in years, but one of the top players at his position in the country.

"I thought I was going to be in certain packages or moving out receiver and getting some touches at running back," Prosise said after rushing for 129 yards and three touchdowns against Navy on Saturday. "At this point I didn’t think I was going to be getting 20 carries a game. … I just thought I would be helping out where needed."

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Prosise's almost out-of-nowhere ascension has been among the best things to happen to Notre Dame this fall. For context, here's how the redshirt junior from Woodberry Forest, Va. stacks up against the competition (the 10/20/30/50+ columns are for runs of that distance or more).

Player (school) CAR YDS ATT/G YPC YPG TD 10+ 20+ 30+ 50+
C.J. Prosise (ND) 110 779 18.3 7.1 129.8 9 28 7 2 2
Leonard Fournette (LSU) 119 1,022 23.8 8.6 204.4 12 21 7 6 4
Dalvin Cook (FSU) 88 792 17.6 9.0 158.4 8 21 12 7 4
Ezekiel Elliott (OSU) 121 835 20.2 6.9 139.2 10 22 6 4 4
Nick Chubb (UGA) 92 747 15.3 8.1 124.5 7 21 8 4 2
Shock Linwood (Baylor) 75 719 15.9 9.6 143.8 7 24 7 4 1
Royce Freeman (Oregon) 123 859 20.5 7.0 143.2 9 32 8 4 0
Devontae Booker (Utah) 140 665 28.0 4.8 133.0 6 18 4 2 0
Jordan Howard (IU) 125 709 25.0 5.7 141.8 4 18 6 2 0
Tyler Ervin (SDSU) 140 874 25.3 6.2 145.7 11 23 5 4 1

The way this shakes out, Fournette is on a completely different level than any other running back, but Prosise is right there with the rest of this group. There's not a whole lot separating him, at least statistically, from Chubb, Cook, Elliott and Freeman -- and Chubb suffered a serious knee injury over the weekend against Tennessee. Linwood is the most explosive player of this bunch, but benefits from getting occasional carries in the pass-happy Baylor offense. Booker and Howard are less explosive workhorses, while Ervin has had the most success of any group of five back.

Notre Dame believes Prosise still has plenty of room for improvement, whether it's with being a little more patient or running with better pad level. But he very well could still wind up as the second-best running back in college football this year, which is awfully impressive for a guy with no prior experience at the position.

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