Marcus Freeman updates the injury status of TaRiq Bracy, Howard Cross III
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The hamstring injury that pushed Notre Dame cornerback TaRiq Bracy out of Saturday's 28-20 win over BYU might not keep him sidelined this Saturday against Stanford (1-4).
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman deemed Bracy as questionable this week with a grade 1 hamstring pull.
"I just found our he had a virus illness, so he was probably a little bit dehydrated," Freeman said Monday. "He was playing a lot of plays running around there.
"They said it's a grade 1. It's not a really bad pull. He's kind of freaky in terms of athletically. Hopefully he'll bounce back. We'll see how he feels today. I saw him yesterday. He was confident, was a little bit sore."
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Bracy, a graduate senior, didn't return to the game after dropping to the field mid-play on BYU's final drive in the fourth quarter. He missed the next four plays, which ended with Notre Dame (3-2) stopping the Cougars on fourth-and-1.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound Bracy also received attention from Notre Dame's training staff late in the third quarter, but he returned to action to start the fourth quarter. He finished the game with three tackles, a shared tackle for a loss and one interception, which came on the first play from scrimmage.
Bracy, who has played both nickelback and outside cornerback for the Irish, leads Notre Dame's defense in snaps this season. Freshman Jaden Mickey (nickelback) and junior Clarence Lewis (cornerback) would likely see more playing time if Bracy can't play against Stanford on Saturday (7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC).
The Irish should get senior nose tackle Howard Cross III back this week. Cross missed the BYU game with a high ankle sprain, Freeman said Saturday. On Monday, Freeman said he expects Cross to play against Stanford.
"We'll see how he feels today at practice," Freeman said. "He tested it pregame. We just did not feel confident — him nor the trainers felt confident that he could execute what we needed him to do. We held him (out). Expect him to be back."
Graduate senior Chris Smith, a transfer from Harvard, started for the first time at Notre Dame with Cross out of the lineup. Sophomore Gabriel Rubio saw an increased role against BYU as well. Both Smith and Rubio climbed the depth chart last week when senior Jacob Lacey chose to leave the program in order to redshirt this season and pursue a transfer.
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