Notre Dame may miss two starters against Rice on Saturday morning, but one key piece of the linebacker puzzle is expected back in Week 2.
Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa has been out of action since late last season, but there is at least the expectation that he’ll play some against the Owls. On Tuesday, head coach Marcus Freeman talked a bit about his expectations as he met the media for the first time in preparation for the second game of the season.
“He’s trending in a way that we expect him to be out there on Saturday,” Freeman said of Viliamu-Asa. “How much is to be determined.”
“At some point, we’ve got to say, ‘Okay, here’s the start.’ You’re not going to go out there and pick up right where you left off. His practice volume has continuously increased. We were intentional about the work we put in last week to see if he could get ready to be at that point where, mentally and physically, he was ready to go. We think we were a couple days away.”
Notre Dame football expects Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa to play limited snaps vs. Rice
“As of today, Tuesday, we’re expecting him to be able to get out there a little bit on Saturday.”
Viliamu-Asa suffered his second career ACL tear to his left knee in the Senior Day win over Syracuse last November 22. Since then, he’s worked hard to get back. New linebacker coach Brian Jean-Mary even called him a “mutant” for how he’s rehabbed and healed.
Jean-Mary was clearly joking when he said that, but he wasn’t joking when he said he felt like Viliamu-Asa was a good six weeks ahead of where he should have been in his rehab. He was healing up well enough that there was some talk that the linebacker would be able to appear in Notre Dame’s opener against Wisconsin. However, Freeman said in the week leading up to that game that he wasn’t quite there.
The Irish have plenty of reason to take things slow from here. Viliamu-Asa wasn’t needed in the 41-13 win over Wisconsin, and he certainly shouldn’t be needed against Rice if Notre Dame plans to compete for a national title. They'll need the linebackers most later in the season against BYU.
Notre Dame will no doubt play it safe and make sure Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is healthy and only plays enough to shake off the rust. However, anyone who expects him to play a great deal on Saturday will be disappointed.
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