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Notre Dame Football

Mayer set to play; Kelly shares Notre Dame scout formula, updates injuries

October 21, 2021
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Overall, the health news Thursday afternoon was good for Notre Dame.

The No. 13 Fighting Irish (5-1) host rival University of Southern Cal Saturday night (7:30, NBC) and are poised to welcome back multiple players, including star sophomore tight end Michael Mayer.

“Mayer will be starting for us,” Irish coach Brian Kelly said Thursday in his final weekly media availability. “He's had a good week.

“We expect him to contribute; we need him to contribute.”

Additionally, per Kelly, freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner “had a week week. We're back to getting him involved in the offense. He's available.”

Though hardly 100%, Jacob Lacey is working back to be a contributor against the Trojans (3-3). The 6-foot-1-5/8-inch, 275-pounder is recovering from an ankle injury.

“I don't think he'll be 100%, but I think he can give us some quality reps,” Kelly said.

It's less clear for sophomore tailback Chris Tyree (toe), whom Kelly considers a game-time decision and says it’s necessary at the running back position to be 100%.

C'Bo Flemister is back and available after missing the win at Virginia Tech Oct. 9 due to Kelly's punishment for unspecified reasons.

If Tyree is unable to go, both Flemister and true freshman Logan Diggs are in line as the Irish’s backups to star Kyren Williams.

SHARING THE LOAD

Notre Dame has, at various times across the season's opening half, found itself leaning on starting quarterback Jack Coan, as well as relievers Tyler Buchner and Drew Pyne.

On the heels of junior Brendon Clark's decision this week to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, the Irish are piecing together scout-team duties.

"Losing Brendon forced us to have a scout-team situation, a demonstration situation where we wanted to continue to a really competitive situation,” Kelly said. “We did a little more this week against our defense.

“We called it our 'Pick-it period' where we picked some plays we have in our offense that are similar to USC, and we ran them as our offense. Kind of high school-related, I guess, in a sense.

"We wanted to give them some real good looks. We picked up a little bit of that in terms of 1s vs. 1s going against each other.”

Though Coan's work is limited to his starting duties, both Buchner and Pyne are filling the void left by the departure of Clark, who has been recovering from multiple injuries and has no action this season.

"We rotated Buchner and Pyne,” Kelly said. “They went down for a couple periods when we weren't in team time and gave those guys a look down there because that's what we needed to do.

“We managed it within and those guys were great and we helped our defense as well."

X MARKS THE SPOTS

Xavier Watts is closer to perhaps forging a contributing role, says Kelly, as the wideout-turned-defender continues to adapt to multiple positions on Marcus Freeman's defensive unit.

“He's been at the nickel and rover position; he's cross-training,” said Kelly of Watts, with appearances this season in five games and three total tackles. “We've got him playing a couple positions. We've got him at nickel, safety and we're really trying to add a lot of work to him because we want to get him on the field.

"This is like preseason camp for him, and he's getting a lot of work right now at both safety and nickel."

CROWD SOURCING

Notre Dame's playoff chances certainly are not in an enviable position, but they likewise aren't nonexistent.

Nor is the team's potential for a New Year's Six bowl, among other options.

So, Kelly is naturally focusing on the remainder of the season.

What he is not concerning himself with is what kind of scene it might be Saturday under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium.

“I don't run our ticketing office, or marketing,” Kelly said. “My job is to win football games and put ourselves in a position where we put a good product on the field. I think we do that.

"I have to hope that people want to come out and see our football team play. That's my job.”

Kelly does share his optimism for a homefield-advantage against the Trojans, making their first visit in two years and for the Irish's first full-capacity night game in just as much time.

"The expectations would be that this is an incredible atmosphere playing USC where we haven't played them at home in a while,” Kelly said. “(Students are) on break, so your students traditionally come back for this game and I would expect that. I have a job to do, and that's put a good product on the field. and I think we have done that. The rest is up to what our fanbase wants to do.

"I hope they want to come out and see this football team play. It's a gritty, gutsy group of guys that just play really hard for four quarters. I hope they come out and see them play.”

 
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