Notre Dame Football: Top Storylines vs. Louisville

Next Man Up

Brian Kelly has always preached and lived by the “Next Man Up” mantra – ensuring that those who could see the field are as prepared as the starters. We saw this plenty last year with Ian Book overtaking Brandon Wimbush’s spot, Aaron Banks stepping up after Alex Bars’ injury, and Jafar Armstrong and Tony Jones Jr. carrying the ground game during Dexter Williams’ suspension.

Whatever the reason may be, the next man up needs to be ready to go – and this year’s team is wasting no time testing that.

During the later part of fall camp, both the starting TE and No.3 WR for Notre Dame football went  down with broken collarbones. Cole Kmet and Michael Young suffered the same injury that rquired surgery to fix. The initial recovery time is expected to be 4-10 weeks.

While the status of Kmet seems to be that he could make a comeback by week three or four, Young looks to be sidelined a little longer, as his injury happened just three weeks before the Louisville game.

These are two big blows to the Irish offense, who planned on incorporating more tight end work in the passing game and wanted to lean heavily on the speedy Young to stretch the field vertically and be a deep ball threat.

In their absence we will see more work from Brock Wright and Tommy Tremble, with Wright taking the majority of the reps. He is an inexperienced pass-catcher, but some consider him to be one of the better blocking tight ends on the roster.

Replacing Young will be Chris Finke, who’s moved outside. Lawrence Keys has moved into Finke’s spot in the slot.

Furthermore, another significant blow to the offense was recently announced as sophomore receiver Kevin Austin will not play due to a university-imposed suspension. Whether the suspension is four games or season long is not 100% clear, but regardless he will be out for the Louisville game, pushing the “Next Man Up” ideology to the limit for the receiving crops.

Lastly, Louisville will be without a few of their key players as well. The Cardinals’ tight end Jordan Davis will miss the game due to academic probation and linebacker P.J. Blue tore his ACL and will miss the season.