Notre Dame player out for season, update on quarterback injury

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly gave an injury update for several players, including the health of quarterback Tyler Buchner. Tight end Cane Berrong will miss the remainder of this season after suffering an ACL tear. Buchner is expected to be completely healthy going into their game against USC on Saturday.

Notre Dame updates quarterback injury, Berrong out for season

Kelly fielded a question early in his press appearance about injuries to his team and the status of quarterback Tyler Buchner.

“[Chris Tyree has] been cleared, he practiced last week,” detailed Kelly. “[Michael] Mayer looks to be 100 percent, he weight trained and looked really good so we feel good about him being at 100 percent for us.

“Cane Berrong tore his MCL, so he will unfortunately — in a non-contact situation, just one of those unfortunate situations so he’ll be out for the year.”

Reports previously indicated that the injury Berrong suffered was an ACL tear, it is unclear at this time if Kelly misspoke or if the diagnosis was different. Either way, Kelly was clear that his season has ended. Buchner’s update was much more welcome news for fans of Notre Dame.

“Buchner [is] good,” Kelly continued. “He was probably — I wouldn’t say he was 100 percent last week but he got a lot of reps. And should be 100 percent for this week.”

Jack Coan and Tyler Buchner battle

Notre Dame picked up a 32-29 win over Virginia Tech before their bye week last week. Although the Fighting Irish moved to 5-1 on the season with their third single-score win of the season, it did not come without controversy.

As starting quarterback Jack Coan continued to struggle, freshman Tyler Buchner took over the offense in the second quarter. Buchner did not fair well, throwing two interceptions before exiting in the fourth quarter. Coan then returned to the field and led Notre Dame on two scoring drives for the win.

Despite another close call and the brewing quarterback controversy, head coach Brian Kelly does not want negative questions surrounding his players. Frustrated with a question on the quarterback situation, he came to his quarterback’s defense.

“You guys should be thinking about great things to write about [Coan], because that doesn’t happen very often,” Kelly told reporters, via The Athletic’s Matt Fortuna. “But you’ll find negative things to write about this (game) and that’s why I don’t really care.”

Coan finished the game 9-for-12 for 108 yards and a touchdown. He went 7-for-9 on the final two drives as he led the Notre Dame offense to a comeback win.

Playing the middle portion of the game, Buchner went 6-for-14 for 113 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He does add an extra element to the offense with his legs, picking up 67 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

On3’s James Fletcher III contributed to this article.