Fighting Irish now Fighting through a lot of Injuries, Drue Tranquill out for the Season

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Not one to tout the accomplishments of Notre Dame in past years, but a tip of the hat at this point of the season is due to Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly. Love or hate Notre Dame, the team has been through their fair share of injuries adopting the “next man up” mantra and still keep winning.

In Week 3, Notre Dame hosted then No. 14 Georgia Tech taking a matchup against a tough offense and turning that into a 30-22 win. Not only did NDU come out with a nice win but their offense motored on to 457 yards of production from the line of scrimmage while holding Tech to 337 yards.

The offensive production is impressive alone but knowing Notre Dame was without starting quarterback Malik Zaire (broken ankle), starting tight end Durham Smythe (MCL), and starting running back Tarean Folston (ACL) only makes the win that more impressive.

As if losing those three was not enough, now Notre Dame has lost a sixth starter for the year in safety Drue Tranquill.

The injury was insult to celebration when the sophomore danced around after a pass breakup in the end zone just before halftime tearing the ACL in his right knee against Georgia Tech. Tranquill has suffered a similar setback before tearing the ACL in his left knee in 2014.

Other Notre Dame players out for the season includes junior defensive tackle Jarron Jones (MCL) and nickel back Shaun Crawford (ACL). Safety Avery Sebastian is expected to return from a broken foot in October providing some relief from all the injuries.

The Irish has a very winnable game against UMass this week before traveling to Clemson on Oct. 3. Remaining games against USC (Oct. 17), Pitt (Nov. 7), and Stanford (Nov. 28) highlight the schedule as roadblocks that could keep the Irish out of the College Football Playoffs.

Photo credit: ndinsider.com; No. 23 Drue Tranquill against Georgia Tech.