Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison OUT vs. Pitt with quad strain
Notre Dame will be without one of its best defensive players vs. Pitt. Fighting Irish cornerback Benjamin Morrison was ruled out with a quad strain. Morrison went through pregame warmups and determined he could not give it a go during the game.
The news came after a Notre Dame team account posted on social media indicating every player on the Irish two-deep depth chart was available for today’s game. At first, that seemed factual. The way Morrison moved in warmups, it looked like he’d not miss any time. But being iffy whatsoever and the Irish kicking off in a game they’re favored to win by three touchdowns made it an easier call to sit out and rest up for a bigger game at Clemson in a week.
Morrison, a freshman All-American last year and a preseason All-American this year, started all eight games before Notre Dame’s bye week. Without him, the Irish are going to have to lean heavily on sophomore Jaden Mickey and freshman Christian Gray. Senior Clarence Lewis could be a factor on the outside with graduate student Thomas Harper manning the middle at nickel.
Mickey got the start in place of Morrison, marking his first start since playing opposite Morrison against USC in Los Angeles last year.
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Of course, graduate student Cam Hart will play most of the game at the other outside corner spot. He’s started every game for the Irish after battling injuries for most of his career to this point. Hart was tied with graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser with the third-highest Pro Football Focus grade of any Notre Dame defensive player through eight games.
The Irish are going against a Pitt offense that has moved on to a backup quarterback, Christian Veilleux, after rolling with former Notre Dame signal-caller Phil Jurkovec to begin the year. Veilleux got his third consecutive start Saturday. Jurkovec warmed up with the Pitt tight ends, meanwhile.
Notre Dame held Pitt to a three-and-out on the first Panther possession of the game. Then senior wide receiver Chris Tyree returned a punt 82 yards to the end zone for the game’s first score. That’s a good way to mitigate being without one of the top overall players on the team in Morrison. The Irish defense bowed up once again on the ensuing possession and forced Pitt into another three-and-out. Veilleux started the game 3-for-4 for just 16 yards.
In the early going, no Morrison, no problem for Notre Dame. Click here for live updates of the game.
