While junior quarterback Dayne Crist's injury garnered most of the headlines after Saturday's 28-27 loss to Tulsa, other injuries to Irish players will play a key role in how Notre Dame finishes out the final three games of the season, and several impact players also may not suit up for the Irish for the remainder of the season. Irish coach Brian Kelly addressed some of Notre Dame's injury issues in his Sunday press conference.
Crist underwent a successful surgery on the patellar tendon in his left knee on Sunday according to Kelly.
"The patella tendon had, in fact, tore," Kelly said. "It was reattached. The surgery went well, and we're looking at a six-month recovery time."
The surgery was performed exactly one year to the day that Crist tore the ACL in his right knee in Notre Dame's 40-14 win over Washington State.
Crist's injury could have an impact on the eligibility of freshmen quarterbacks Andrew Hendrix and Luke Massa, as the Irish need to prepare a third quarterback. Kelly said that the team would begin working with the young quarterbacks in practice this week.
"We're going to begin working with Hendrix and Massa this week, and we will whittle it down to one because obviously we're now in a situation where we have to have another quarterback that is ready," Kelly said.
Allen's end
Senior running back Armando Allen has likely played his last down for the Irish, and Notre Dame is setting up a date for him to have surgery on a hip flexor. Allen dressed on Saturday to run down the tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium one last time, Kelly said.
"He has a right and left torn cartilage in the hip, I think specifically the labrum," Kelly said. "We treated the first one. Clearly, if you watched him the Navy game, he played hard and played with great passion, but he did not have that second gear he had earlier in the year.
"We dressed him so he could run out of the tunnel one last time because we were pretty certain he wasn't [going to] be able to play again," Kelly continued.
Lesser concerns
Crist was the only player who sustained an injury on Saturday that will likely miss any time against Utah.
Freshman linebacker Prince Shembo sustained a concussion on Saturday, but Kelly said that he is already improving. Junior linebacker Darius Fleming sustained an ankle injury, but he should be in the lineup against Utah.
Sophomore linebacker Carlo Calabrese missed Saturday's game with a hamstring injury, but he should be ready to play after the bye week and provide a boost to Notre Dame's linebacker unit.
"Carlo Calabrese is much better, we need this bye-week for him to get back," Kelly said.
