Notre Dame football injury report: C Zeke Correll ‘progressing really well’ from ankle injury
Notre Dame center Zeke Correll will practice Monday and is on track to play Saturday as he works his way back from a left ankle injury, according to Irish coach Marcus Freeman.
Correll missed practice this past Tuesday, working out off to the side with a brace on his left ankle. He went through warmups in full uniform the next day, having replaced the brace with a significant amount of tape, but he did not participate in individual or full-team activities.
Freeman said that the team expects Correll to play against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, but the Irish will monitor how he looks in practice before making a final decision.
“He’s progressing really well,” Freeman said. “I want to see him go out there and practice today. We kind of held him out last week, but today we’re gonna push him to go. He’s been doing a great job in rehab and recovery, so I think today will tell us a lot.”
If Correll is unable to play, sophomore offensive lineman Ashton Craig would likely start at center for Notre Dame. Craig’s backup during the practices Correll missed was walk-on graduate student Quinn Murphy.
More: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman on Navy, Jaylen Sneed, the Irish’s edge
Three Notre Dame players undergo successful surgeries
Notre Dame senior tight end Kevin Bauman and sophomore defensive end Aiden Gobaira both underwent successful anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgeries, Freeman announced Monday. Freeman declared Bauman and Gobaira out for the season on Aug. 12 after Bauman partially tore his ACL and Gobaira completely tore his.
Additionally, senior offensive lineman Michael Carmody had a surgery on his hand. Freeman did not give a timetable on Carmody’s return.
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“He fell in practice last week and ended up breaking a bone in his hand, so he had surgery last week,” Freeman said. “But he’ll make the trip over to Ireland for us.”
Non-injury news: Freeman announces winners in guard competition
While it had been trending this way for some time, Freeman confirmed that juniors Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler will start at left and right guard, respectively, to open the season. Sophomore Billy Schrauth and graduate student Andrew Kristofic, who played with the first team throughout spring camp, will be the backups.
“Yeah, our guard battles were really, really good,” Freeman said. “The competition amongst those guys was what you want to see.”
Coogan and Spindler earned the trust of the Notre Dame coaching staff, including Freeman himself. Schrauth had a great fall camp too, Freeman said, but he’ll have to wait a little longer for his first in-game action in an Irish uniform.
“Those two guys [Spindler and Coogan] have had a really good fall camp, in terms of just the execution,” Freeman said. “All of them are physical. All of them have the traits that you look for in offensive guards, but the overall execution of what they were asked to do on a consistent basis is why those guys will be starting for us.”
