Notre Dame is still waiting to get Quincy Porter back on the field, but Marcus Freeman said the Ohio State transfer is moving closer after a minor procedure on Friday, Aug. 21 aimed at speeding up his recovery.
Porter, who has been working his way back from offseason surgery on his left patellar tendon, was seen on the sidelines Thursday in an in-house video clip posted on social media. He had his helmet in hand and was not wearing the compression sleeve that had been on his left leg.
“He’s still a couple weeks out,” Freeman said. “He’s getting better.
… He’s still got a little bit of time to be in a position where we feel like he can help this team, but it will happen. It’s going to happen here soon.
I just don’t know when it’s going to be.”
Freeman said the latest procedure was intended “just to try to get him a little bit quicker to hopefully being able to help us,” and the timeline still points to a gradual return rather than something immediate.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Porter is now 7½ months removed from the early January surgery to repair his left patellar tendon. He looked to be moving well enough during drills at the open practice that opened fall camp on Aug. 6, but in the two most recent sessions partially open to the media on Aug. 12 and Aug. 16, he worked off to the side.
Porter, a second-year product of Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey, played sparingly last season for Ohio State, finishing with four catches and 81 snaps as a freshman. He also logged 24 special teams plays.
With Porter still unavailable, Micah Gilbert has taken hold of the starting job at boundary receiver. The third-year wideout has drawn strong praise from Freeman as Notre Dame prepares to open the season Sept. 6 against unranked Wisconsin in Green Bay.
“Micah’s done a heck of a job,” Freeman said. “He’s stepped up tremendously.
Micah is who we thought Micah was going to be, who we expected Micah to be. He’s been having a really good camp (and) has made some big catches.”
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