Brian Kelly provides latest injury updates on Michael Carmody, Kurt Hinish

Ahead of a top-10 matchup between No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 7 Cincinnati in South Bend on Saturday, Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly provided an injury update on a few key members of his team, both of whom missed last weekend’s 41-13 win over Wisconsin. 

Offensive tackle Michael Carmody replaced Blake Fisher after the true freshman suffered a meniscus injury in the opening game of the season. Carmody, a sophomore, sprained his ankle in the first half against Toledo on Sept. 11. 

“Carmody has been getting a lot of work at left tackle,” Kelly said Thursday. “He, too, is improving each week, so we think we’re in the right kind of position for him to be able to play on Saturday at left tackle.”

The update is slightly more encouraging than the previous two weeks, when Kelly said Carmody was a game-time decision ahead of Purdue and Wisconsin. Fellow sophomore Tosh Baker, who is 6-foot-8 and 307-pounds, has been starting in his place.

Team captain and nose tackle Kurt Hinish missed last week’s game against Wisconsin after suffering a concussion against Purdue, and he will not face Cincinnati this week either. 

“He went and saw a specialist, and he was cleared from having any kind of head injury,” Kelly said. “It was something different, so he’s excited, but he won’t play this weekend. We expect to have him back next week.”

Luckily for the Irish, Hinish’s replacements, Howard Cross III and Jacob Lacey, were excellent stand-ins last weekend at Soldier Field. Each player had two tackles and one tackle for loss, and Cross added a quarterback hurry against Graham Mertz. Wisconsin rushed for just 78 rushing yards.

Kelly: Coan “ahead of where I thought he would be”

After starting quarterback Jack Coan suffered an ankle injury in the second half of last weekend’s game, Drew Pyne stepped into his place and helped lead the Irish to victory.  Pyne was 6-for-8 with 81 yards and a touchdown pass to receiver Kevin Austin, his second of the day.

Kelly provided an update on his graduate-transfer starter, saying his injury is “ahead of where I thought he would be.”

Coan has split first-team reps this week with freshmen Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner as the team prepares for any situation.

“He looks great this week,” Kelly said of Buchner, who has been hindered by a hamstring injury. “And then we’ll start to build back more inventory into what we’re doing offensively with him.”

Kelly said last week that Buchner would play against Wisconsin, and he took zero snaps. 

Cincinnati is a two-point favorite over an Irish team that has not lost at home since September 2017. The game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.