Injuries Impact Notre Dame Wide Receiver Depth

Notre Dame’s wide receivers room is getting a little thinner in numbers. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman announced on Monday that veteran Deion Colzie will be out for the near future with a knee injury.

“He's going to get his knee scoped sometime this week,” Freeman explained. “It is just...it’s preventing him from really performing at the level he believes he should be at. So, we’re going to scope his knee this week. So, he’ll be out for a couple weeks.”

Colzie played in Notre Dame’s first four games of the season, before missing Saturday night’s game against Ohio State. He had three receptions for 45 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown catch, in the season opener against Navy but those are his only catches of the season to date.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s leading receiver, Jayden Thomas, may not play this weekend against Duke. Freeman says Thomas is “questionable” with a hamstring strain.

The junior leads the Irish with 13 receptions. His 195 receiving yards are second to Chris Tyree’s 241. Thomas has also caught one of the team’s 16 touchdown passes this season.

The Irish are already without veteran receiver Matt Salerno. Freeman announced on Sept. 4 that Salerno has a “lower leg injury” and will be out for an extended but unspecified amount of time.

Despite their injury announcements, both Colzie and Thomas remain on Notre Dame’s wide receiver depth chart this week ahead of Saturday’s game at Duke.

Heading into Saturday night's matchup against Duke, the Irish expect to have Tobias Merriweather, Tyree, Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr. as regulars that are still healthy. The Irish also have freshman Braylon James that they could start working into the rotation. With how much Notre Dame uses two tight ends and now multiple running back alignments there are other ways to overcome the receiver injuries without expanding the rotation beyond James. If Thomas is able to play the Irish rotation will still remain at five.

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