Marcus Freeman says JD Bertrand left NC State game with head injury

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish picked up the win on Saturday against NC State but took an injury-hit to their defense. Senior linebacker JD Bertrand was knocked out of the game in the first half and did not return. At the time of the injury, it was not disclosed what had happened to the Fighting Irish linebacker.

But after the game, head coach Marcus Freeman provided an update on Bertrand.

“Yeah, out with a head injury. I haven’t talked to him yet, but they told me he’d be out in the second half with a head injury,” said Freeman.

Before getting knocked out of the game, Bertrand was all over the field for Notre Dame. He left the game with five total tackles, one of them solo. Losing Bertrand for a significant amount of time would be a significant hit to their defense. But as of now, the only information that Freeman has to relay is the injury but no specifics or timeline.

Freeman praises Sam Hartman’s performance in win over NC State

It wasn’t easy at first, battling through a 105-minute weather delay, but Notre Dame came away with its biggest win of the season on Saturday. The Fighting Irish defeated NC State 45-24 in Raleigh behind a strong performance from Sam Hartman on offense and a defense that created multiple second-half turnovers.

It was an impressive showing on both sides of the ball — one Marcus Freeman said showed him a lot about this year’s team.

“They’re the resilient bunch of guys, man,” Freeman told ABC’s Molly McGrath after the game. “We always talk about staying in the moment. We don’t control the weather, we don’t control having a two-hour delay. We control what we do when they put the ball down. And I was glad to see them really go out and do a great job with that.”

Hartman shined against a team he struggled with while at Wake Forest. He completed 15 of 24 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns to help lead Notre Dame to the victory. Much was made in the lead-up to the game about how Hartman performed against the Wolfpack in the past, bringing a 1-2 record against NC State into the game.

To Freeman, the way he battled back stood out after some stalled drives.

“I think it was the ability to continue to go,” Freeman said. “We started off two three-and-outs, and they were aggressive. They were aggressive all game long. But the ability to get settled down, come out the next series and go and execute, that’s what I was most pleased about.”