Notre Dame football injury update: Marcus Freeman on Jarrett Patterson, Marist Liufau
Notre Dame doesn’t have much to worry about on the injury front going into Saturday’s game at Ohio State. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reassured the country of that in his game-week press conference inside the Notre Dame Stadium media room Monday afternoon.
Freeman was asked specific injury questions about two players. That’s it.
It’s a sign that though the injury situation looked uninviting at best in the middle of fall camp, Notre Dame made it through to the other side relatively unscathed. Freeman is taking a largely healthy team to Columbus, Ohio, to face the No. 2 team in the country. There is, though, one ailing player. And unfortunately for Notre Dame, that ailing player is ultra-important to the Irish’s cause.
It’s graduate student offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson.
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Though he was listed atop Monday’s depth chart as the starting left guard as expected, Patterson might not play at all against the Buckeyes. He’s “questionable,” per Freeman, with a right foot sprain he suffered two weeks ago. Patterson was in a hard cast for about a week and was last seen by the media in a heavy-duty walking boot at this past Friday’s practice.
“I expect him to come out this week and practice,” Freeman said. “We’ll see as we get closer to game time where it will be.”
Sophomore Rocco Spindler is listed as Patterson’s backup at left guard. Junior Andrew Kristofic, who split time with Spindler in Patterson’s place the last two weeks, is backing up graduate student Josh Lugg at right guard.
Senior linebacker Marist Liufau is the other player of concern relating to injuries. According to Freeman, there is no concern at all. Despite sitting out some reps during camp, Liufau is listed as the starting Will linebacker and is ready to give it his all Saturday.
“Marist is probable,” Freeman said. “Marist is ready to go. I don’t expect any limitations on Marist Liufau.”
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The rest of the Notre Dame two-deep is in good physical shape for this weekend. Sophomore wide receiver Jayden Thomas is listed as the starter at slot receiver. He went through a hamstring strain in the middle of camp but has strung several productive practices together since then. The same goes with No. 2 boundary receiver Deion Colzie, a sophomore who sprained his knee early in camp but has since progressed in a healthy manner.
There was a time when it looked like Notre Dame would only have a handful of healthy receivers to work with in the season opener. Now the Irish have seven — eight including safety/hybrid Xavier Watts, who is not listed on the two-deep at any of the wide receiver positions. Neither is freshman Tobias Merriweather. That shows that there might actually be some depth at a position it seemed not long ago there would be none.
Watts and Merriweather are healthy and ready to contribute. So are the reserves on the other side of the ball. Notre Dame went through three weeks worth of fall camp practices and only has one player to hold its breath over the week of the season opener. Patterson would be a tough loss, but not one the Irish could not overcome.
