Notre Dame Working Around Injuries During National Title Prep
Notre Dame hasn’t made excuses for the injury bug all season and the program isn’t making them ahead of the National Championship game against Ohio State.
Head coach Marcus Freeman delivered positive and negative news during his Sunday press conference as it relates to injuries.
Starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp will miss the National Title game, but it appears left guard Rocco Spindler will be available.
“Knapp will miss this game,” stated Freeman. “He had a high ankle sprain and won’t be able to make it back. We’ll see how Rocco progresses this week in practice. I know he’ll give everything he has into making sure he’s prepared.”
Redshirt freshman Charles Jagusah filled in for Spindler during last week’s Orange Bowl and played well. It might have been a surprise how well Jagusah played, considering he just returned to practice in December after tearing a pectoral muscle during fall camp.
Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, who is already down his starting center, will have some tough decisions to make this week as the Irish start practice for Ohio State. Does he roll with graduate student Tosh Baker at left tackle and start Jagusah at left guard? Does Baker start with Spindler? Does Jagsuah move out to left tackle if Spindler is healthy?
If the staff has decided on a starting lineup, Freeman wasn’t giving that away on Sunday.
“We’ll do what’s best for our program,” Freeman explained. “We’ve got to figure that out. We have a week of preparation to make sure we get the right guys to start this game. We’ll see what that is in the next couple of days.”
Regardless, the ability for Jagusah to play at high level is a positive for his development and Notre Dame’s future.
“In the past few weeks or maybe the last month, he's just been practicing and preparing,” Freeman said. “If he did get an opportunity, he didn't know if he would or not, and he went out there and did an unbelievable job, did a great job just like we thought he would.
“Credit to him and Coach Rudolph for being ready for when his number was called, and then he went out and executed at a high level, so it speaks volumes to him and his preparation.”
Freeman also made it clear that Jeremiyah Love will be full-go and receiver Beaux Collins is expected to return to practice sooner rather than later.
“J-Love is good to go,” Freeman stated. “J-Love will be full go. Beaux is still healing from -- he has a calf strain, so he'll work back into practice here in the next couple days. But as long as he progresses, he'll be good to go for the game. We've got to make sure that he progresses as we go through this week.”
As for the flu concerns before and during Notre Dame’s Orange Bowl victory over Penn State, Freeman isn’t concerned about it for the clash with Ohio State.
“As far as the flu, I'm sure every school -- Ohio State is probably dealing with it, too,” said Freeman. “I think really probably over half of our team has gotten it already, so I don't think it will have an impact on this week's game.”
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