Notre Dame looks set to get a boost at linebacker in Week 2, with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa trending toward a return against Rice on Saturday morning.
The expectation, according to head coach Marcus Freeman, is that Viliamu-Asa will be available in some capacity after sitting out since late last season. Freeman stopped short of putting a firm cap on his workload, though he made clear the plan is to ease him back in.
“He’s trending in a way that we expect him to be out there on Saturday,” Freeman said of Viliamu-Asa. “How much is to be determined.”
Freeman said the staff has been deliberate about ramping up Viliamu-Asa’s work, with the linebacker’s practice load steadily increasing as Notre Dame checked whether he was ready both mentally and physically.
“At some point, we’ve got to say, ‘Okay, here’s the start.’ You’re not going to go out there and pick up right where you left off.
His practice volume has continuously increased. We were intentional about the work we put in last week to see if he could get ready to be at that point where, mentally and physically, he was ready to go.
We think we were a couple days away.”
Freeman added, “As of today, Tuesday, we’re expecting him to be able to get out there a little bit on Saturday.”
Viliamu-Asa has been working back from his second career ACL tear to his left knee, suffered in the Senior Day win over Syracuse on November 22. Since then, he’s been grinding through rehab, and new linebacker coach Brian Jean-Mary was so impressed with the recovery that he called him a “mutant” for the way he’s healed.
Jean-Mary was joking with that label, but his point was serious: he believed Viliamu-Asa was about six weeks ahead of schedule in his rehab. That progress even sparked some talk that he might be ready for Notre Dame’s opener against Wisconsin, though Freeman said in the week before that game that he still wasn’t quite there.
Notre Dame didn’t need him in the 41-13 win over Wisconsin, and the Irish likely won’t need to rush him against Rice either. If they’re serious about making a national title run, the more important linebacker moments are still ahead, especially later in the season against BYU.
In Other News...
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Kenny Mincheys first start at Kentucky was the kind of debut that gets remembered, especially for Notre Dame fans who watched him leave with unfinished business. Against Youngstown State, the former Irish quarterback threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover, flashing the arm talent that made him a highly rated recruit in the first place. It also put him in rare company by matching a statistical benchmark not seen at Kentucky since Tim Couch nearly 30 years ago.
For Notre Dame, the performance inevitably reopens the conversation about what might have been, and what the quarterback picture looked like while Minchey was still in South Bend. He had limited playing time with the Irish before transferring, but now he has a start that gives his new program a clear jolt and gives his old one another reminder that quarterback evaluations rarely feel settled in the moment. Even one game can change the way a fan base remembers a battle, and this one certainly did. [Read more 🡒]
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A closer look at Power 4 schedules only reinforces the point: plenty of conference teams line up against few preseason AP Top 25 opponents, and that is often the reality of playing inside a league schedule. For Notre Dame fans, it creates a stronger response to the familiar skepticism, because the issue is not whether the Irish are alone in avoiding elite matchups so much as whether their schedule is being held to a standard other contenders are not forced to meet. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Lands In A Wild Early CFP Picture Before Big Ten Play
Andy Staples first College Football Playoff projection of the season is already packed with surprises, and it puts Ohio State in a prominent spot before Big Ten play has even started to sort things out. His Week 1 bracketology also includes LSU, Miami, Texas, Oregon and USC, with the Trojans projected to make the playoff field for the first time in school history, a reminder of how much September can still reshape the national picture.
For Notre Dame fans keeping an eye on the broader race, the larger takeaway is how unsettled everything remains this early. Staples model is only a snapshot, and the article makes clear that these early projections are speculative, with upcoming games expected to keep changing the order as the season develops. [Read more 🡒]