Marcus Freeman: Notre Dame offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson expected to play against Marshall
Notre Dame should get a valuable piece of its offensive line puzzle back this week. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said fifth-year senior Jarrett Patterson is slated to make his return from a foot sprain that held him out of the season opener at Ohio State last week.
“Jarrett has practiced every day, and we are expecting him to play on Saturday unless something crazy happens in the next 48 hours,” Freeman said. “He’s had a good week of practice.”
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Patterson was a three-year starter at center for the Irish. He moved to left guard over the offseason to make way for senior Zeke Correll, who the Notre Dame coaching staff believes best operates as a center. Still, the Irish line struggled against the No. 2 Buckeyes in a 21-10 Notre Dame loss.
Related: Notre Dame offensive line stories
• Analyzing the Notre Dame offensive line on every play against Ohio State
• Marcus Freeman on why the Notre Dame offensive line struggled against Ohio State
Patterson’s return will be a welcomed one as Notre Dame looks to improve in the trenches in Week 2 against Marshall (1-0). The Thundering Herd and Irish (0-1) kick off Saturday in the first ever meeting between the two programs at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
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Senior Andrew Kristofic started in place of Patterson last week. He made seven starts at left guard in 2021 and would have likely been the Week 1 starter at the position if Patterson stuck at center and Correll was left to the sideline. As all five linemen did at times, though, Kristofic fell victim to poor play that did not enable the Irish offense to get going outside of the lone touchdown drive.
Freeman said the Irish line is motivated to drastically improve this week.
“They were not happy with their overall performance from the Ohio State game,” Freeman said. “It’s a group that has some older guys with Josh Lugg, J Patt. Some guys that have played football that take a lot of pride in their performance. Zeke Correll obviously being an older guy too. The two tackles, Joe (Alt) and Blake (Fisher) are continuing to follow their lead. They take a lot of pride in their performance. They’ve had a great week of practice, and I’m looking forward to seeing them play on Saturday.”
