Quick-hitters: Brian Kelly on injuries, Marcus Freeman, Cam Hart
Notre Dame is down to six scholarship receivers for the rest of the season.
Senior Joe Wilkins Jr. will miss the remainder of the year with a torn MCL suffered in an Oct. 2 loss to Cincinnati, head coach Brian Kelly said Thursday. He had played in all five games this year, with four catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. He was averaging 13 snaps per game and has played all three receiver positions in Notre Dame's offense.
Wilkins is the third case of in-season attrition in the Irish's receiving corps. Senior Lawrence Keys III left the team in early September. Sophomore Xavier Watts also moved to rover earlier in the season. The remaining scholarship players are graduate student Avery Davis, senior Kevin Austin Jr., senior Braden Lenzy, freshman Lorenzo Styles Jr., freshman Deion Colzie and freshman Jayden Thomas. All but Thomas have played on offense this year.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Kelly is "optimistic" sophomore tight end Michael Mayer (adductor strain) will play Saturday at Virginia Tech (7:30 p.m., ACC Network). He has practiced this week and added to his workload throughout.
"We’re managing him so we can get him to Saturday so he can play at the level he’s capable of playing at," Kelly said. "We’ve done a little bit each day. We’ll do a little bit more today in the red zone with him and on third down, which are key components to his effectiveness."
Kelly said fifth-year senior nose tackle Kurt Hinish (concussion) has been cleared to play after missing the last two games. Sophomore offensive tackles Tosh Baker (concussion) and Michael Carmody (ankle) are cleared as well.
Here are some other topics Kelly addressed in his final media session before No. 14 Notre Dame (4-1) plays at Virginia Tech (3-1).
On sophomore tight end Kevin Bauman’s recovery from a broken leg suffered at Florida State
“Kevin Bauman is making really good progress. He’s out of the boot. He’s walking. His progress is bone growth, and he has been on the bone stem. We’re going to be in that [six-week] timeline. We’re approaching a pretty critical phase here right now with starting to do some more work.
“As long as we don’t have any stress reactions to that, we feel like we’ll be on target.”
On defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman’s camaraderie with players
“He has a great relationship with his players. Any time a new coach comes in, it’s about developing relationships, which he continues to build that throughout the season. It’s about consistency, about relationships, about trust. It’s about our process and delivering it on a week-to-week basis.
“I sit in all the team meetings on defense and get a chance to listen to him talk to the entire unit. He’s on point. There’s a good esprit de corps, there’s great camaraderie. We’re still building. We’re just about at the halfway point of Year 1 with Marcus Freeman leading this defense. Stay tuned. There is going to be some good stuff to follow.”
On junior cornerback Cam Hart
The best way to grow confidence is through playmaking. He made some plays, and he did that sequentially with the teaching from practice. That builds trust with position coaches and carries itself to a day-to-day building of what we’re teaching. Now you can trust that teaching on the field. They’re all linked together. There’s no question he’s now taking that onto the field and playing with more confidence.
On sophomore vyper Jordan Botelho’s usage
“It was much more schematic with where he fit against the heavy personnel of Wisconsin. He’s still in a competitive battle for playing time at that vyper position with Isaiah [Foskey] and Justin [Ademilola]. He’s doing a nice job making progress. He’s part of our packages, in particular on third down."
On Michigan walk-on linebacker graduate transfer Adam Shibley, a special teams staple
“He is a walk-on, but he’s much more mature. He’s a veteran guy. He played a lot. He comes to us a lot more physically mature. The position in which he’s playing requires somebody who has played a lot of football, which he has. He has to be a bit unique to walk-ons that he beats out scholarship players."
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka, @GregLadky, and @ToddBurlage.
• Like us on Facebook.