Notre Dame OL Blake Fisher working toward Fiesta Bowl availability
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman made it clear Sunday: the players who give the Fighting Irish the best chance to win the Fiesta Bowl will be the ones who play the most against Oklahoma State on Jan. 1.
True freshman offensive tackle Blake Fisher could be one of those players.
The media watched a few periods of practice Sunday for the first time since August. Fisher was fully suited and a full participant in those respective periods. He has not played since Sept. 5 at Florida State. He injured his meniscus in the first half of that game and underwent knee surgery a few days later.
Freeman asked the training staff where Fisher stood in his rehab and what his workload would be for pre-bowl practices. The trainers said Fisher should be able to tolerate individual drills and everything else would come on a case by case basis. It would be up to Fisher to see what he could comfortably handle.
It didn't take long to figure it out.
"I look and we're in team and he's out there," Freeman said. "He was out there getting some team reps. I don't know if he'll be full go, released for the game yet, but to see him out there during team reps is extremely encouraging. It's good to have him out there."
There still isn't much incentive to rush Fisher onto the field in the Fiesta Bowl. The Notre Dame offensive line has stabilized in the second half of the season. Freshman Joe Alt has been a revelation at left tackle, where Fisher started in Tallahassee over three months ago, and senior Josh Lugg has been steady at right tackle. A desperation factor in needing Fisher to get back onto the field simply does not exist.
When fully healthy, though, Fisher would certainly fit into Freeman's plan to play Notre Dame's best. The Irish rotated three players — sophomores Michael Carmody and Tosh Baker in addition to Alt — at left tackle before finally arriving on Alt as the best option of the trio. Had Fisher never been injured, that carousel would have never started spinning. He won the job outright in fall camp. It would have been surprising to see him lose it with poor play even though he's just a freshman.
Senior center Jarrett Patterson can relate to Fisher's situation. Patterson missed the last four games of the 2020 season with an injury. He spent spring practices rehabbing on the sideline. When it finally came time to get back on the field, it wasn't exactly like riding a bike. Patterson stayed the course, though, and ultimately won his starting job over again after a short stint of Zeke Correll filling in for him.
"It's tough coming back," Patterson said. "I told him he's not going to feel the same the first couple practices. You just got to be able to push through it and realize you'll get back to where you were and continue evolving. But just seeing him out there, it's just so exciting. Especially for someone as young and talented as him."
Whether Fisher gets on the field in the Fiesta Bowl or not isn't of the utmost concern. Notre Dame likes what it has in Alt and Lugg at tackle. These three weeks prior to New Year's Day are about getting back in playing shape and going through important practice reps. Fisher missed out on a lot of that throughout the regular season. Part of the beauty of bowl season is the luxury of a month's worth of practices that allow players like Fisher to set up the offseason optimistically.
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