Notre Dame got the help it was looking for at the running back position when Stanford grad transfer Trevor Speights announced his transfer commitment on Thursday night. Speights, who has one year of eligibility remaining, provides an immediate boost of depth as the Irish look to replace departed senior Tony Jones.

Speights spent four years with the Cardinal, but played sparingly while backing up Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. Injuries also limited Speights and after rushing for 363 yards in 2017 and 2018, he didn't play at all in 2019.

The move to South Bend reunites Speights with Irish runnings back coach Lance Taylor, who helped recruit Speights to Stanford during his time as a Cardinal assistant.

Because of his injury history, it's possible that Speights could be granted a sixth year of eligibility in the future.

Speights sits at No. 17 in the updated Rivals Running Back Transfer Rankings.

Speights made an early commitment to Arizona but backed off that pledge once his several other programs came calling. The second time around he took his recruitment deep into the fall and after taking several official visits, he chose the Cardinal over Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and others.

Speights redshirted his first year on campus while backing up Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. After McCaffrey headed to the NFL, Speights saw more time in 2017, rushing for 142 yards on 36 carries. He stayed as Love's backup in 2018, but did get more time late in the year and finished with 221 yards rushing and 52 yards receiving. He was expected to be featured much more in 2019, but he missed the season with an undisclosed injury. He entered the transfer portal following the conclusion of the season.

“Speights impact will depend on his ability to return to his pre-injury skill set as he was a very good running back out of high school and productive at Stanford in limited opportunities. Notre Dame is a great fit for him as he reunites with Taylor and he should be in the mix to see quality time or even start.”

Impact Rating: 5.7 out of 10

The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and mange their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.

1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.

4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.

6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.

9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.

10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.