Report | RB Jafar Armstrong To Miss An Extended Period of Time
According to a report from Pete Sampson at The Athletic, Notre Dame running back Jafar Armstrong is expected to miss an extended amount of time and a five-week timeframe would be optimistic.
Armstrong was injured early in the first quarter during Monday night’s game and it’s an injury Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly was somewhat unaware of the severity before an MRI on Tuesday afternoon.
“Soft tissue injury,” Kelly said on Tuesday afternoon. “He’s getting an MRI today and we’ll know a little more about his situation. It’s a groin area and felt some discomfort in the groin/ab area. He had a sports hernia injury that was repaired in high school.
“We feel good there is no structural damage, but we need to examine it further. We’ll have some more information as we move through the week.”
If the report is accurate, Armstrong would be a loss to Notre Dame, but I’m not sure it will be as big as some think at running back. The loss could be bigger at receiver where Armstrong lined up for many of his snaps on Monday night as Notre Dame is looking to mask the injury to Michael Young Jr.
Notre Dame ran for 230 yards on 42 carries on Monday night with Armstrong carrying twice for 10 yards.
Senior Tony Jones Jr. led the Irish with 15 carries for 110 yards and one touchdown. Sources around the program mentioned Jones was named the starting running back by offensive coordinator Chip Long and Monday’s performance didn’t come as a surprise around the program.
Sophomore Jahmir Smith added 24 yards on eight carries to go along with two touchdowns on Monday night. Smith also showed he is ready for a larger role in the offense and isn’t learning the running back position at this point in his career.
Freshman Kyren Williams will also see more time along with sophomore C’Bo Flemister.
Armstrong posted a somewhat cryptic Instagram caption on Monday afternoon.
“Any man can win when things are going his way, it’s the man who overcomes adversity head on that is the true champion.”
http://instagr.am/p/B2AHkxOl_Ep
Brian Kelly is scheduled to meet the media at Noon on Monday.