Not only did Notre Dame take a loss during its trip to Prov against the BYU Cougars, they came home with some banged up players. The most significant player injury was to cornerback DJ McKinney.
We already knew that DJ McLinney was going to be out this week against Navy, but on Thursday, Marcus Freeman confirmed that it will be an extended period of time.
This was the fear (and part of the rumor mill) during the bye week, and yes… it’s a major concern for Notre Dame moving forward with two more games against quality opponents that are currently ranked; No 1 Miami and No. 19 SMU — two team who have good passing attacks.
The Irish aren’t just thin overall at cornerback, they are fairly green. Jayden Sanders will take over McKinney’s starting spot, but even his backup (Mark Zachery) is still dealing with a concussion. Notre Dame freshman Chaz Smith is out for the season and another freshman, Khary Adams, hasn’t played much this season and was sidelined during the spring due to an injury.
We still like Christian Gray at the nickel, but if the Irish have to, Dallas Golden could play there if Gray is needed at one of the cornerback spots. It would be nice to have Brauntae Johnson back to situationally (and occasionally) use him at the nickel with Adon Shuler and Luke Talich at safety — but that’s still not yet an option (although the growing use of safety Joey O’Brien is nice).
The cornerback issues won’t be a problem this week against Navy, because of course. It’s actually why playing Navy is dumb and stupid and has no place in a modern society. With Miami up next, the Irish don’t just need to stay healthy with the healthy bodies they have — those guys need reps to take on one of the better offenses in the country.
