Notre Dame will be without a second member of its offensive line for Friday's game at North Carolina.
Fifth-year senior right guard Tommy Kraemer will miss the game following an an appendectomy, according to a report from Irish Illustrated. The news comes a week after center Jarrett Patterson suffered a season-ending foot injury during the Nov. 14 win over Boston College, meaning Notre Dame will start two backups against the Tar Heels, and perhaps longer. The timeline for Kraemer's return is one to three weeks.
Kraemer's listed backup is junior John Dirksen, but he was replaced by senior Josh Lugg when he left an Oct. 31 game against Georgia Tech early due to a minor injury. Lugg and sophomore Zeke Correll were two possible replacements for Patterson, but there's now an opportunity for both to step into the starting lineup.
Lugg started the final five games of last season at right tackle, but has taken practice reps at tackle, guard and center. He has played guard and tackle in games. Correll has been working at center since arriving in the spring of 2019 and has played in two games this year with the rest of the second-string offensive line.
Kraemer (37) and Patterson (21) have combined for 58 career starts at Notre Dame. The former moved into the lineup in 2017 at right tackle before shifting over to right guard in 2018. He started the first seven games of 2019 before sustaining a season-ending knee injury.
If Kraemer's recovery timeline forces him out of more than one game, he would miss the Dec. 5 game against Syracuse. Notre Dame also plays Dec. 12 at Wake Forest.
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