Notre Dame S Brandon Joseph, LB JD Bertrand, WR Tobias Merriweather out vs. Navy due to injury
Brandon Joseph will miss a game for the first time in nearly two years. The Notre Dame senior safety is out Saturday vs. Navy due to an ankle sprain, the team announced in its pregame injury report. Freshman wide receiver Tobias Merriweather is also out for the game. (UPDATE 11:25 a.m. ET): Senior linebacker JD Bertrand has also been ruled out after initial warmups due to an undisclosed injury.
Joseph’s absence was expected after head coach Marcus Freeman called him doubtful Thursday. He suffered the ankle sprain during Notre Dame’s Nov. 5 win over Clemson. He played just 29 snaps in that game, his second-fewest of the season, and was not on defense for most of the second half. His last action in that game was a 16-yard punt return in the third quarter.
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The injury occurred during the first half, Freeman said. He called Joseph questionable earlier in the week.
“We’ll see how he progresses this week, but he has a pretty good ankle sprain on him,” Freeman said Monday.
With Bertrand out, Notre Dame will not have its leading tackler to defend Navy’s triple-option. Bertrand has 60 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 pass breakups.
Freeman did not give any indication of a Merriweather or Bertrand injury during the week, but a source told BlueandGold.com Merriweather’s absence is injury-related. The freshman has played six games this year and logged at least 18 snaps in each of the last three. He has 1 catch – a 41-yard touchdown vs. Stanford – on 5 targets this year.
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Joseph has 27 tackles, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup and 1 forced fumble this season. He is Notre Dame’s highest-graded defensive player, per Pro Football Focus. He also has 18 punt returns for 179 yards. He had started all nine games in his first season with the Irish after transferring from Northwestern in January. His only absence since the start of 2020 was Northwestern’s Dec. 12 game against Illinois.
Notre Dame turned to grad student DJ Brown, junior Xavier Watts and junior Ramon Henderson to play most of the snaps after Joseph left the Clemson game. Brown (61) and Watts (33) played set a season-high in snaps, while Henderson (32 snaps) matched his high watermark for the year. Grad student Houston Griffith played just 11 snaps. Brown has started seven games this year and each of the last three.
Grad student wide receiver Matt Salerno will be the punt returner in Joseph’s place. He held that job for most of the 2020 season.
Merriweather’s absence means Notre Dame will have five healthy scholarship receivers available vs. Navy. Grad student Joe Wilkins Jr. entered the transfer portal Monday.
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