Notre Dame Football: Irish should be careful not to rush Kyle Hamilton
Notre Dame football safety Kyle Hamilton went down awkwardly Saturday with an ankle injury. The Irish should be careful to not rush his return.
For a moment, it looked like Notre Dame had lost its best player for the season. Kyle Hamilton had his leg rolled up on, and he seemed to buckle dangerously. It was ugly to watch, and the lack of immediate information only led to wild speculation. Is it an ACL injury? Is it a broken leg? Is it an ankle or a knee?
Luckily for everyone involved, it’s not a major injury. Kyle Hamilton sprained his ankle. The Athletic even reports that he could potentially be cleared to play for the USF game this Saturday. That is a major bullet dodged.
As great as it would be to see Hamilton take on USF, he shouldn’t play, even if doctors clear him. There’s no reason to risk aggravating the sprain, especially against an abysmal USF offense.
Sprains generally don’t take as long to heal as a broken bone or similar injury. However, you tend to feel the lasting impact of sprains much longer than a break. You also are more likely to re-sprain a ligament than you are to re-break a bone. This is because a sprain is the twisting and stretching of a ligament, and this weakens that ligament. On the other hand, a break gets reset and once it is healed it is generally fully healed.
If Hamilton and Notre Dame aren’t careful, he could turn a one week injury into a one month or recurring injury. He’s too valuable to risk losing for an extended period of time, even if doctors cleared him to play.
Add to that the reality of the opponent. USF is not a good team right now, especially on offense. It’s the first season under head coach Jeff Scott, and he frankly doesn’t have the pieces in place yet. Last week, in USF’s opener against The Citadel of the FCS, they only scored 27 points.
Next. Irish need to establish physical identity against USF. dark
The reality is that Notre Dame doesn’t need Hamilton to dominate USF. They need him to stay healthy for ACC games against teams like Louisville, North Carolina, and Clemson.