'A bowling ball shot out of a cannon': Inside Audric Estime's inspirational journey to the NFL Draft

INDIANAPOLIS - The St. Joseph Regional varsity football team was on the bus returning to school in Montvale from an August scrimmage in Union City, N.J., when the call came through.

This was seven years ago and Danny Marangi, then the defensive coordinator at St. Joe's, recalled the unexpected scouting report on one of their own, a freshman who was running roughshod in his first taste of high school ball.

"One of our freshman coaches was on the phone just laughing," Marangi told NorthJersey.com in a recent phone interview. "And he's like, 'Hey, I think you left your starting running back back home.'"

That was the day Audric Estime's quest to dominate the competition began as a teenager poised to wreck the opposition.

Growing up in Nyack, N.Y., Estime started playing football when he was 4. He was the youngest one on the team, forced to play on the offensive line before his obvious talent convinced the coaches to put him at running back. Big runs and long touchdowns followed in a journey from the Spring Valley (N.Y.) Hornets in youth football to St. Joseph and then Notre Dame, where his success continued.

Now Estime, who does not turn 21 until September, is set to sprint to his NFL dream as one of the top running backs in the Class of 2024 here at the Scouting Combine. He's done all of this with broad shoulders, remarkably powerful legs and a heavy heart. His mother, Bertha Noisette, was his biggest fan, a single mother and registered nurse. Her 2013 death from sickle cell disease when Audric was 10 and his older brother Khadar was 12 provided both inspiration and motivation ever since.

Estime has one tattoo: Roman numerals of his mother’s birthday on his left arm. He takes a knee and speaks to Mom before every game, a tradition that keeps her spirit and memory close to his pursuits on the gridiron.

"Man, I know she's just looking down on me, smiling. All the hard work I put in, she laid the foundation," Estime told NorthJersey.com on Friday morning. "I know my mom is watching over me. I think about her every day, and I will treat [on-field workouts] like a game day. So for sure I'll be in the end zone, say a prayer and then talk to my mom, and I want to make her proud."

At 5-foot-11 and 227 pounds, Estime led the Fighting Irish with 1,341 rushing yards this past season, an average of 6.4 yards per carry and the fifth-highest single-season total in program history. His 18 rushing touchdowns set a program record, moving Estime past Allen Pinkett (1984) and Ferguson (1979).

“I’m a big fan of Audric Estime - his contact balance, his body lean,” ESPN analyst Matt Miller said during a media conference call last month. “There’s almost a little bit of old-school Frank Gore to his game, where you have no idea how he’s going to shoot through a gap, and all of a sudden, he gets seven yards. There’s more than enough power there that he can be a three-down back with that kind of usage.”

Estime's aunt Marise Fede and uncle Garick Noisette became his legal guardians following his mother's death. His family also includes cousin Terrence Fede, a four-year NFL veteran and his godfather who has served as his mentor in the sport.

Fede remembers Estime, shortly after his mother passed away, joined his workout as the Marist College graduate prepared for his Pro Day inside the Nyack indoor training bubble.

“He has been preparing for this since he was playing Pop Warner," Fede told NorthJersey.com. "He's a bowling ball shot out of a cannon. I'm telling you, he will be ready."

CBS Sports college football analyst Emory Hunt believes Estime has a chance to be one of the first running backs off the board next month. His blend of size and speed is surprising - and evident every time he touches the football. If the Giants lose Saquon Barkley to free agency, Estime could be an option to consider beginning in the third round.

"When you look at how he runs, how thick of a body he is, how over the course of a game it becomes a chore for defenses to tackle him, it's a rare combination," Hunt told NorthJersey.com. "And he still has that burst in the fourth quarter on play No. 60 as he did in the first quarter on play No. 1. He reminded me so much of A.J. Dillon with an ability to close out a game. In my estimation, Estime would be a perfect closer, a four-minute offense guy when a team is trying to salt the game away, he's the back defenses will hate to play."

Back at St. Joe's, Estime finished his senior season with 1,838 yards on 185 carries with 22 touchdowns in just eight games during a COVID-shortened campaign. He ended up going to Notre Dame on scholarship and in three years Estime emerged as one of the best with 2,321 career rushing yards and 30 touchdowns.

"We knew we could always count on him," Marangi said. "To see where he is, and where he's going, it's like, 'Wow, this guy is something special.'"

The next challenge for Estime: convincing the NFL about exactly that. He told NorthJersey.com he plans on proving he is the best running back in the draft: "It's why I'm here."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Audric Estime: Go inside his inspirational journey to the NFL Draft