SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Three weeks away from its 2022 season opener, Notre Dame’s football’s most inspirational comeback story took an unexpected and unfortunate turn.
And along with it, the team’s tenuous depth at wide receiver took a massive hit.
Projected starter Avery Davis, a sixth-year grad senior and likely repeat captain, is out for the season, it was announced Saturday. The 5-foot-11, 198-pound Cedar Hill, Texas, product suffered an ACL injury to his right knee Friday running a jet sweep in practice.
“(He) planted and just went down,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Saturday after practice No. 8 of training camp, this one staged at Notre Dame Stadium. “We didn't think initially that it was going to be as bad as it was. And then after the MRI, (we) found out that there was an ACL.
“I was just devastated for the kid.”
The injury comes 7 ½ months after Davis suffered an ACL tear in his left knee last November against Navy.
The latest injury leaves Notre Dame with seven scholarship wide receivers, only five of whom were healthy enough to fully take part in practice on Saturday.
Sophomore Deion Colzie was in a knee brace during Friday’s media window in practice. Freeman said Colzie had suffered a PCL sprain earlier in the week and could return “soon” — without the context of just how soon.
There was better news Saturday, though, with regard to grad senior receiver Joe Wilkins Jr. Wilkins suffered a Lisfranc fracture in his right foot on March 26 during spring practice and underwent surgery on April Fool’s Day.
When asked in late June about Wilkins’ timeline to return, Freeman’s conservative expectation was the beginning of October. The updated timetable as of Saturday, though, was availability for the Sept. 3 season opener at No. 2 Ohio State.
“(Wilkins) is ahead of schedule,” Freeman said. “That's part of the discussion in terms of where do we want to go offensively in that wideouts room?
“We expect Joe Wilkins to be back for the Ohio State game, which I don't know if I would've said that last week. As long as he continues to progress in the direction he's going, we expect him back for Week 1.”
The rest of the wide receiver contingent at the moment comprises grad seniors Braden Lenzy and Matt Salerno, the latter a former walk-on, as well as sophomores Lorenzo Styles and Jayden Thomas, and freshman Tobias Merriweather.
“Offensively, we’ve got enough talent,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees responded when asked about the shrinking numbers at wide receiver. “It's my job to put our guys in the right spots. We have plenty of talent around this program, around this team. I'm excited for the challenge and excited for the opportunity to showcase it.”
The Irish could opt to run more multiple-tight end sets and/or slide running back Chris Tyree into the slot at times, though that was a more viable option before the running back position underwent its own attrition.
As far as possible position switches, grad senior Cam Hart and junior Xavier Watts both came to Notre Dame as wide receivers, but Hart is a starting cornerback and Watts is a key backup safety in 2022 and likely a starter in 2023.
Perhaps the best two wide receiver candidates who are not already involved in a competitive situation in their respective current position groups — if the coaching staff opts to move some pieces around — are freshman cornerback Jayden Bellamy and freshman outside linebacker Nolan Ziegler.
“We haven't made any decisions,” Freeman said. “Obviously, we just found out last night, and so it would be something for me, coach Rees and coach (defensive coordinator Al) Golden we all discuss. What's best for this team?
“There's a lot of guys that can help us. There's a lot of different things we can do with the people we have on this team. And so, we've got to figure out how we're going to utilize our personnel, the people we have on this roster and put our offense in a position to have success.”
The Irish coaches did peruse the transfer portal in the spring after Wilkins’ injury, but couldn’t find the right combination of talent, mutual interest and the ability to have the right transfer credits to get through the Notre Dame admissions process.
“You just can’t get any person into Notre Dame,” Freeman told Inside ND Sports in late June. “We're still working with our faculty and the provost in terms of how can we continue to enhance the process of getting transfers here?
“And it’s good learning for all of us — for our coaches, for me, for the faculty in terms of, ‘OK, hey, it’s not just football. We're all looking for ways to bring in the right people to Notre Dame. But how can we enhance our process through the transfer portal?’”
Davis, who originally came to Notre Dame as a quarterback, caught 27 passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns in nine games for the Irish in 2021.
“I spent some time with him yesterday in his apartment,” Freeman said, “just trying to — what do you say to a kid at that moment? You're just coming back from an ACL injury, and now you tear the other one. But I wanted him to know that he's important to this program and whatever we can do to support him, we will.
“It's a huge blow for not the room, just the team. You're talking about a captain and a guy that just is a great example of what you want our football players to be about. You're heartbroken for the kid.”
Fifth-ranked Notre Dame opens Sept. 3 at No. 2 Ohio State.
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