Folston a proven option in backfield By Al Lesar South Bend Tribune

Ownership is a concept that can’t be understated when it comes to confifidence and accountability. It also can go a long way toward making a guy into a productive football player.

Take running back Tarean Folston, for example.

Last year, he seemed to wrestle with the thought of taking ownership of the position at Notre Dame. At least, that’s what coach Brian Kelly kept telling the media.

As a sophomore with classmate Greg Bryant and senior Cam McDaniel alongside him — not necessarily behind him — Folston was slow out of the gate. Through the fifirst fifive games of 2014, all victories, Folston ran the ball 42 times for 165 yards and nary a touchdown. Kelly kept waiting to see that “oomph” that came with being “The Man.”

Then something clicked. Whether it was a conscious attitude adjustment, in which Folston took command of the position, or just a matter of getting comfortable with the situation, Kelly got his owner.

Like everyone else on the Irish offensive depth chart, Folston struggled in losses to Arizona State (11 carries, 30 yards) and USC (4 carries, 14 yards). But in the other six games, including the Music City Bowl against LSU ( 21 carries, 73 yards, 1 TD), Folston

finished with 175 carries, 889 yards and six touchdowns.

Those are impressive enough to be considered as ownership numbers. “I just kept playing hard,” Folston said of last year’s circumstances. He downplayed the notion that he didn’t own the position.

“I just continued to play hard and everything fell into place,” he said. “I don’t know what it was. I just started rushing for more yards and getting more and more carries. It happened.”

Folston’s not the sort of guy who tends to overthink a predicament.

He was happy with the way last season ended and is counting on not missing a beat as Notre Dame begins a new season Saturday against Texas.

Folston is the only proven commodity in Notre Dame’s backfield. Quarterback Malik Zaire is hardly an established body of work, having started just one game. Folston’s backup C.J. Prosise — or the stable of converted receiver Justin Brent, or walk-on-turned- scholarship -contender Josh Anderson, or freshmen Josh Adams and Dexter Williams — come in without having played a single snap at running back for the Irish.