It’s Senior Day this weekend against Virginia Tech. Let’s pray the weather holds up enough for the parents of the players to stand at midfield and await their hugs and tears.
The Irish continue to be very healthy with no new significant injuries heading into the second-to-last game of the regular season. Daniel Cage saw a concussion specialist before last week’s game and apparently no new information has been released about his situation. On Thursday, Brian Kelly did say Cage is out against the Hokies. This will be his 3rd straight game missed.
Torii Hunter didn’t play last week against Army following a knee injury that he played through against Navy. He hasn’t been officially ruled out, instead given the game time decision designation, but Hunter has not practiced this week. We are predicting Hunter will not play against Virginia Tech.
Everyone else that has been playing in recents weeks will be available.
The defensive side of the ball should remain pretty similar to what we’ve seen recently. Devin Studstill shared reps against Navy and was limited to just 1 snap against Army. He’d be someone who should come back to regular reps against a non-flexbone offense.
Likewise, Greer Martini took roughly 50% of the snaps at linebacker while Coney and Bilal split the remaining reps last week. There are lots of options to work with for the staff against Virginia Tech.
On offense, Kelly has intimated 5th-year senior Mark Harrell will get the start at right guard. I’m not really sure what the deal is with Colin McGovern. He’s battled injuries, and multiple concussions, yet still played a little bit last week and Kelly said he practiced well, too. It’s pretty amazing for a unit with a plethora of blue-chip talent that they’ll turn to Harrell (barely a Top 500 recruit) to start for the second game in a row.
In other roster news, Kelly said suspended/injured corner Devin Butler will be making a public statement about his future soon. That pretty much means he’ll be playing elsewhere for his final year of eligibility.
Looking ahead to the future, Kelly expects Nick Watkins to be 100% for spring ball. Additionally, they are expecting Shaun Crawford to be available “in some capacity” for spring practice, as well.
The Cage injury is super concerning, because we *need* him for next year. If he can’t go next year, our d-line goes from “not good” to “godawful”.
Yeah man, I’m bummed out for Cage. He’s been a quality under-the-radar player, and a favorite of mine.
He’s one of my favorites, too. He’s friends with my niece. She said he is a great guy.