When Notre Dame first lost safety Brauntae Johnson to injury in the first game of the season, head coach Marcus Freeman was optimistic he wouldn’t be out long. There was plenty of talk that the star defender would be out “a couple of weeks.” Freeman didn’t say it would be exactly two weeks; still, when Johnson first went down, the hopes were that he’d be back by Week 4. So do the Fighting Irish get him back for the game against Purdue?
The short answer is: no, Brauntae Johnson isn’t ready to suit up and play against the Boilermakers. The longer answer is that Johnson doesn’t appear to have taken many steps toward being back and ready for Week 5. At this point, it’s still very much a question of when he’ll be back.
Not only is Johnson not available for Notre Dame on Saturday, but his backup, Luke Talich, was also ruled out in Saturday’s official availability report.
Talich had stepped in and performed admirably for Johnson in the last two games. He was businesslike against Rice, then had one of the better outings of his Notre Dame career, recording a sack and an interception against Michigan State.
Joey O'Brien makes first Notre Dame football start with Brauntae Johnson and Luke Talich out
The Irish defense held the Spartans to just 10 points, thanks in part to Talich’s performance; however, he exited early with a hand injury. There was hope he might be able to play today wearing a cast, but it turns out he couldn't.
With both Brauntae Johnson and Luke Talich out, Notre Dame is going with freshman Joey O’Brien. The former 5-star prospect out of Pennsylvania impressed his coaches this spring before suffering an injury in the Blue-Gold game that forced him to miss some summer conditioning.
However, coaches initially had concerns about him missing the start of fall camp. In the end, he got healthy and impressed coaches during practice as well. Now he’ll get his first career start. His performance will be interesting, as veteran quarterback Ryan Browne might try to pick on him early as he looks to stay away from defensive back Leonard Moore.
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