Audric Estime, November 19, 2022 v. Boston College. (Photo: Chad Ryan/Fighting Irish Preview)
Audric Estimé was born in Atlanta, grew up in Nyack, New York, and lost his mother when he was just 10 years old.
Raised largely by his aunt and uncle, Estimé leaned heavily on family, faith and football. He eventually became one of the top high school running backs in New Jersey, and years later described Notre Dame as the place that brought together three things that mattered deeply to him: “faith, academics, and football.”
He also became one heck of a running back.
Estimé arrived at Notre Dame in 2021 and spent his freshman season behind Kyren Williams, carrying the football only seven times. His breakthrough came a year later against — appropriately enough for this week — North Carolina.
Notre Dame went to Chapel Hill in September 2022 with a 1-2 record and badly needing a win in Marcus Freeman’s first season as head coach. Estimé carried 17 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns in Notre Dame’s 45-32 victory. It was his first career 100-yard game and the beginning of something pretty special.
Estimé finished 2022 as Notre Dame’s leading rusher with 920 yards and 11 touchdowns. By the following season, the 225-pound junior was unquestionably the featured back.
He was big, powerful and surprisingly quick. Not surprisingly, people began calling him “Baby Bus,” a reference to another big Notre Dame running back named Jerome Bettis. Estimé embraced the nickname and developed a relationship with Bettis.
Then he went out and produced one of the best rushing seasons in Notre Dame history.
Estimé ran for 116 yards against Tennessee State, 134 at NC State — including an 80-yard touchdown — and 176 against Central Michigan. But his most memorable run may have come at Duke.
One week after Notre Dame’s devastating last-second loss to Ohio State, the Irish trailed Duke 14-13 late in the fourth quarter. Sam Hartman kept Notre Dame alive with a remarkable 17-yard scramble on fourth-and-16. Two plays later, Estimé broke free for a 30-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining.
A week after losing in the final seconds, Notre Dame had won one in the final seconds.
Estimé saved his biggest performance for his final game in a Notre Dame uniform. Against Stanford, he ran for a career-high 238 yards and four touchdowns. Those four scores gave him 18 rushing touchdowns for the season, breaking the Notre Dame single-season record of 17 shared by Vagas Ferguson and Allen Pinkett.
His final 2023 numbers were terrific: 1,341 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns, 6.4 yards per carry and six 100-yard games. The 1,341 yards ranked fifth in Notre Dame single-season history. Estimé was named Notre Dame’s Offensive Player of the Year and earned second-team All-America honors.
And here’s some perspective on just how productive he was.
Estimé was really a significant part of the Notre Dame offense for only two seasons, yet finished with 2,321 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns. When he left Notre Dame, he ranked 11th in school history in rushing yards — just 20 yards behind George Gipp.
Estimé entered the NFL Draft after his junior season and Denver selected him in the fifth round in 2024. His professional career has included stops with Denver, Philadelphia and New Orleans. At only 23, that story is still being written.
His Notre Dame story is already a pretty good one.
And with the Irish returning to Chapel Hill this week, remember what happened there four years ago: 17 carries, 134 yards, two touchdowns.
That was Audric Estimé’s first 100-yard game.
By the time he left Notre Dame, “Baby Bus” was an All-American, school record holder and had carved out his place among Notre Dame’s great running backs.
Audric Estimé — this week’s Fighting Irish Preview All-Time Irish Hero.