Notre Dame Getting Healthy Ahead Of Its Ohio State Matchup

The start of Notre Dame’s football season is just days away. All things considered, the Fighting Irish come out of training camp and into Ohio State game preparation week in pretty good shape.

Head coach Marcus Freeman’s first team suffered one horrific loss during training camp when wide receiver Avery Davis tore an ACL for a second straight season. Freeman said at his first weekly press conference of the season on Monday that he would welcome Davis back “with open arms” if Davis chooses to come back to Notre Dame for a seventh season.

The two biggest question marks the Irish have in the lead up to Ohio State are the availabilities of left guard Jarrett Patterson and linebacker Marist Liufau. Both are listed at No. 1 on Notre Dame’s first depth chart of the season, but both have been limited recently.

Liufau broke his ankle during last year’s training camp. He didn’t re-injure it during camp, but he has been on a “pitch count” for live reps during camp. The Will linebacker did not participate in any live drills about 10 days ago, the last time the media was able to watch the Irish at a full practice. He did, however, participate in the full scrimmage the day prior, which explains his limitations the day after.

"Marist is probable,” Freeman said of his senior linebacker. "Marist is ready to go, he'll be ready to go. I don't expect any limitations on Marist Liufau.”

With Liufau at Will, JD Bertrand “or” Bo Bauer will play middle linebacker, with Jack Kiser at Rover, per the depth chart.

Patterson injured his foot nearly two weeks ago. While he is listed atop the depth chart at left guard, his status for Saturday night’s game is more in doubt.

"Jarrett, to me, is still questionable,” noted Freeman. "I (expect) him to come out this week in practice, and we'll see as we get closer to game time where he'll be, but I would say he's questionable.”

Patterson did not practice at this past Saturday’s practice inside Notre Dame Stadium. He was in shorts and a t-shirt and had a walking boot on his injured foot. Freeman has previously said that Patterson’s availability will come down to how much pain he can tolerate and still be able to play.

If Patterson is out he'll be replaced in the starting lineup by senior Andrew Kristofic, who started eight games at left guard in 2021.

The Fighting Irish had their share of players who were dinged up during Freeman’s first camp, but everyone else is expected to go Saturday night. Freeman challenged his team with a physically demanding camp and he is happy with how things turned out.

"I told them you got to trust me,” Freeman explained. "You've got to trust me. We're going to beat them up the first couple weeks of practice, it's the only way I know. It's what I believed it was going to take to really get this team ready to play football, but once we got to that point where I said okay, they're ready to go, this team is ready, physically to play at a game level.”

Players like wide receivers Jayden Thomas, Joe Wilkins Jr. and Deion Colzie, and cornerback Cam Hart all had lower body injuries they worked through during camp, but all showed up in the first two-deep of the season. Thomas and Hart are each No. 1, with Wilkins No. 2 behind Braden Lenzy and Colzie behind Lorenzo Styles at receiver.

"I'm really pleased with our athletic training staff and the work they've done,” said Freeman. "It's also a credit to our guys that have worked their tails off in the training room to get treatment and rehab to get them back here. So, those guys are ready, they're ready to go.

"Now the preparation doesn't stop the mental, a little bit of a physical but we're not tackling guys to the ground and things like that anymore. But I believe that's what it took to get this team really to get ready to go. We had some injuries. That’s what fall camp’s about. That’s what training camp’s about and I wouldn't change it, and I think it'd be ready to roll on Saturday.”

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