Brian Kelly Updates QB Brandon Wimbush's Injury

The hot topic over the weekend wasn't Notre Dame's 52-17 win over Miami, but the status of starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed the status of his quarterback on Tuesday afternoon. 

“We'll take it day-to-day right now,” said Kelly. “He experienced some foot soreness after the game, so we put him in a walking boot, which is fairly typical relative to procedures. We had an MRI, and an X-ray both came back clean, no structural damage, no ligament damage. We just want to be really cautious with him, and we'll begin the process of practicing and see how he progresses during the week.” 

The goal for Wimbush is to get evaluated by the Notre Dame training staff on Tuesday and see if he can participate in practice in the afternoon. 

“It's his first injury,” explained Kelly. “We'll work through the process with him. We're not going to push him really hard today. I think we'll get him probably moving a little bit, throwing, making sure that -- but I'm not in a position where we need to have him practice today. My vision would be more towards getting him out there Wednesday for practice.” 

The foot injury happened at some point during the game, contrary to rumors on the outside. 

“We don't know exactly when it happened,” stated Kelly. But it's pretty common. That's why we have a check-in at noontime on Sundays. We get a lot of soft tissue injuries that don't show themselves right after the game and will show themselves later after a period of time. That's why we have a mandatory noon check-in, and at the mandatory noon check-in -- he actually started feeling it that evening, and that evening he started to feel it, was out and then went home because he felt the foot starting to flare up on him.”

Kelly also defended his quarterback as to the rumors that Wimbush hurt his ankle in a non-football related activity on Saturday night. 

“Is it possible,” Kelly said. “Well, I'd talk to anybody that has speculative information out there, and I trust what Brandon tells me. I have no reason not to trust 100 percent what Brandon tells me. He went out and felt his foot was not right, and he went home. That's what he told me. I believe him. I have no reason not to believe him based upon my relationship with him over the last three years.”

As for how much practice time Wimbush would need to have Kelly feel comfortable starting him on Saturday, the answer will become more clear as the week progresses.

“He could miss Tuesday,” stated Kelly. “I think he would need to do something on Wednesday. But does he need to take 60 percent of the reps? Probably not. So I'm not in a rush to judge here where he's going to be. I think we're still pretty optimistic that he's going to be able to do something. So we'll see. Again, it's early in the week for us. I know it's a little later for you guys because this is the only time you'll see me until Thursday, but we haven't even gotten him out of the boot to move him around yet.”

The x-ray and MRI showed no ligament or structural damage, so it could likely come down to how Wimbush feels and how well he can move on the ankle. 

“We have really examined the foot thoroughly with an MRI, a quick MRI turnaround, and an X-ray, this is really just about feeling good, because we know we've done our due diligence here,” Kelly explained. “But we want to -- obviously we want to make him obviously feel good, and he's got to feel comfortable, and a lot of this is not just medical. This has got to be he's got to feel comfortable, and he's got to feel 100 percent like he can put his foot in the ground and do the things that he can do. And so this will be a decision that we'll have to make together.”