Jayden Thomas Will Not Play For Notre Dame Against Duke

Notre Dame will be depleted at wide receiver in tonight's matchup against 17th-ranked Duke, with the Irish announcing that junior wide receiver Jayden Thomas is officially out for this game.

Head coach Marcus Freeman said earlier in the week he was questionable, perhaps doubtful, but that has been finalized with Notre Dame releasing that Thomas would not play. The junior from Atlanta leads the Fighting Irish offense with 13 receptions on the season, and he's second on the team with 195 yards. Thomas has played both slot and outside during his career, but he was Notre Dame's primary boundary receiver the first five games.

Notre Dame is already without sixth-year senior Matt Salerno, junior Deion Colzie and freshman KK Smith, and freshman Jaden Greathouse is questionable heading into tonight's game.

Thomas and Greathouse are both battling hamstring issues, with Thomas going down in the second half of last week's game against Ohio State. It's not a surprise he will be out, as it was stated by sources that he did not practice during the week in preparation for this matchup against Duke.

With Thomas out and Greathouse questionable, Notre Dame will need to rely more heavily on sophomore Tobias Merriweather, senior Chris Tyree and freshman Rico Flores Jr. The Irish might also decide to active talented freshman Braylon James, who has only played in late game blowout situations.

The injuries at wide receiver will also likely force Notre Dame to use their two tight end (12, 13 personnel) and two running back (21 personnel) alignments more in this game. In the last two games Notre Dame was doing more and more three receiver sets, which will be much together to do in this game from a volume standpoint.

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