It appears Blake Fisher’s injury will hold him out of Notre Dame’s lineup for at least one week.
The true freshman left tackle started Notre Dame’s season opener against Florida State, but he left in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. Head coach Brian Kelly said Fisher was scheduled for an MRI on Monday afternoon.
Sophomore Michael Carmody replaced Fisher for the rest of the FSU game. He is listed as the starter going into Notre Dame’s matchup against Toledo this Saturday. Sophomore Tosh Baker is listed as the second-string left tackle. Fisher is not on the depth chart.
Kelly said Baker and freshman Joe Alt are the offensive lineman who are in line to get playing time if any other starters sustain an injury like Fisher.
“We have confidence in both of those guys that they can come in and play at a high level for us,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he was pleased with Notre Dame’s offensive line in pass protection against Florida State. Graduate student quarterback Jack Coan and the Irish were able to throw for 366 yards.
The running game was a different story. Notre Dame ran for just 65 yards and averaged only 1.9 yards per carry. Kelly said he is not worried about the offensive line holding up in the running game in the future, though.
“These are things that are easily worked out,” Kelly said. “When you evaluate your running game, you worry about being overwhelmed at the point of attack. That’s a good [Florida State] front and they have some good players, but these are things we have to make some adjustments with.”
Changes at linebacker
Kelly announced Monday that the Irish have lost senior linebacker Paul Moala for the season to an Achilles tendon tear. He was listed as a third co-starter at rover on last week’s depth chart, but now junior Jack Kiser and graduate student Isaiah Pryor are listed as co-starters at the position.
Sophomore JD Bertrand was listed ahead of senior Shayne Simon at Will linebacker last week. Kelly said Simon was also scheduled for an MRI to get his shoulder looked at. Simon has been replaced by true freshman Prince Kollie as the second-string Will linebacker.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, we have to be able to trust you,” Kelly said when asked about Kollie’s talent. “That trust is going to have to be accelerated with Prince. He’s moving inside. He’s going to get work. We may have to call upon him a little sooner than we had expected.”
Full Notre Dame week two depth chart
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