The Notre Dame defense swarms to the ball in a pursuit drill ahead of ND's home opener against Texas A&M on Saturday night.
Mike Miller/Blue & Gold
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Two of the three key Notre Dame football players listed as questionable on Monday due to injuries got an upgrade to probable on Thursday in the official Irish player availability report.
Nickel DeVonta Smith (right ankle) and place-kicker Noah Burnette (hip) are now both expected to play in Saturday’s first-time ever football meeting between the 22nd-ranked Irish (1-2) and Arkansas (2-2). Kickoff on ABC is noon EDT in Fayetteville, Ark.
Still lingering in questionable status is sophomore starting cornerback Leonard Moore. The Irish defense is challenged with dealing with a a team ranked in the top 35 in total offense nationally for the fourth game in a row. In fact, among Miami, Texas A&M, Purdue and Arkansas — the latter is ranked the highest among those four in total offense, at No. 8.
The Razorbacks are also the top team ND has faced to date in rushing offense (20th), passing offense (15th), total offense (15th), scoring offense (15th), team pass efficiency (16th) and third-down conversion rate (6th).
Moore missed Notre Dame’s 56-30 home victory over Purdue this past Saturday, as did Burnette. Smith missed the last two Irish games. Freshman Mark Zackery IV made his first college start, in place of Moore. Freshman Dallas Golden made his college debut and first career start in Smith’s place at nickel.
Irish head coach Marcus Freeman turned to freshman Erik Schmidtto not only replace Burnette as the place-kicker, but had him kick off instead of Marcello Diomede as well. Freeman said Thursday that Schmidt will keep kick off duties this Saturday, with Burnette likely to kick field goals and extra points.
Special teams stalwart and backup defensive end Preston Zinter was a new listing Thursday as out for the Arkansas game. He is in concussion protocol.
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AtBlue & Gold, we’re committed to a depth chart projection on Mondays, and anytime there’s a change. The difference is we’ll go beyond the two-deeps for the Irish.
A few things to note. Players with an -x after their names have been ruled out for the season. Players with -y have been ruled out for at least the upcoming game. Players with -q were listed as questionable in Thursday’s official availability report from Notre Dame. OR denotes players tied for a spot on the depth chart.
There were no new additions to the out-for-the-season list and no significant additions when it comes to players with more short-term recovery timelines.
With Notre Dame shifting to eligibility year as its primary identifier this season for the first time ever, we will follow that lead, but clarify between a redshirt freshman, for instance, and a true freshman.
Heights and weights were refreshed at the start of preseason camp on July 31.
