While the Notre Dame football team will scramble to find a replacement for Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa for the game against Stanford and then for any games they play beyond that, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman did deliver some excellent news on the Tae Johnson front.
Johnson, who has emerged as a star for the Fighting Irish secondary, missed the Syracuse game with a hand injury he suffered in practice last week. Last week, there were some concerns that the DB might miss a few more games, including a few College Football Playoff games, should the Golden Domers get there.
However, during his Monday press conference, Freeman offered a much more optimistic update. There is a possibility that Notre Dame might be out one of its best defensive players for just one more game.
Marcus Freeman outlines why Notre Dame expects Tae Johnson back sooner than feared
Freeman said that Johnson will miss a minimum of one game. That game will come late Saturday night against Stanford. The good news is that it doesn't seem like the Irish will need him as they're 32-point favorites ahead of the regular season finale.
Freeman added they believe Johnson will miss two games "max." That could obviously see the defensive back missing the first-round playoff game, which is less than ideal. However, that he could return after that is a plus. The Irish coach was clearly hinting that there is a very good chance the player won't miss more than the Cardinal.
For this week, it will be all about Notre Dame monitoring Tae Johnson and seeing how he recovers and what his hand feels like next Monday.