Notre Dame CB Shaun Crawford Injury Update: Torn Achilles
Notre Dame’s defense was shredded last week but one of the bright spots was sophomore Shaun Crawford. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, the talent sophomore who missed his entire freshman season has torn his achilles on the first defensive drive of today’s Nevada contest and it looks like his sophomore season comes to a crashing halt.
Crawford got beaten in coverage on a deep pass but recovered in time to rip the ball out of the hands of receiver and force what was originally ruled a fumble recovered by Notre Dame safety Drue Tranquill. To add insult to injury, the play was reversed upon review with Nevada retaining possession of the football.
The loss of the fumble pales in comparison to the loss of Crawford who helped solidify the Notre Dame defense when he stayed on the outside in the second half against Texas last week.
Notre Dame is already missing Nick Watkins for at least a few more weeks and is without suspended corner Devin Butler who wouldn’t be available even if he wasn’t awaiting trial a he recovers from a broken foot. With Crawford out, Nick Coleman who struggled mightily in the first half first Texas last week will be on the outside opposite Cole Luke and will likely be targeted often the rest of today.
Notre Dame’s depth behind Coleman and Luke is almost entirely comprised of freshmen with Donte Vaughn, Julian Love, and Tony Pride the primary frosh who will be in line for playing time now.
This is a HUGE loss for Notre Dame just as it was a huge loss for Notre Dame last year when Crawford tore his ACL in training camp. As a true freshman Crawford was in line to be the nickel back for the Irish a year ago before the injury.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out for Notre Dame as Crawford was one of the players the Irish could least afford to lose.
Your heart has to go out to Crawford as well now that his second season ends in the first quarter of the second game of the year after not even making it out of training camp a season ago.
Frank Vitovitch has been Co-Owner and Editor in Chief of UHND.com since joining forces with Kyle Flavin in 1999. Since that time, he has written over 2,000 articles covering Notre Dame football, recruiting, and basketball. He also works with all staff and external writers on all articles published on UHND.com. Frank's love for Notre Dame football started at a young age watching Rocket Ismail give opposing coaches ulcers in the late 1980's. By day Frank works in marketing and holds a degree in Digital Media from Drexel University. Frank's work has been cited by online/print editions of NBC Sports, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated and has been quoted on air by ESPN's Collin Cowherd. He's conducted interviews with Notre Dame legends Rocket Ismail, Randy Kinder, Lee Becton, Reggie Brooks, Michael Stonebreaker, and Ned Bolcar among others over his 20+ years of covering Notre Dame football. He's also been published in the print edition of USA Today Sports Weekly and the USA Today College Football Preview multiple times. Other Published Works/Citations for Frank Three Reasons Notre Dame Will Beat Alabama - USA Today Notre Dame Suspends WR Kevin Stepherson, RB C.J. Holmes Indefinitely - Bleacher Report Notre Dame / Ohio State Fiesta Bowl Preview - Eleven Warriors Brace Yourself: The Fighting Irish are Relevant Again - Sports on Earth Interviews with the Enemy: A Q&A with Frank Vitovitch of UHND - Yahoo! Sports Five Good Minutes: Notre Dame Football Preview With UHND.com - BC Interruption Vicious Electronic Questioning with UHND - MGO Blog
was the torn Achilles on the opposite leg of his torn ACL last year? I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case as sometimes guys coming back from that type of injury, injure the opposite leg in some form due to over compensating.
I agree with Rob. Injuries are part of the game, but either something needs to change with the strength and conditioning program or that relatively new surface on ND’s field needs to be re-evaluated. I’d bet it’s the former because I haven’t seen as many opposing players go down as ND guys in the last couple of years, but you never know.
This is getting ridiculous. ND doesn’t have enough talent to continue to lose starters year after year. Someone better look into the football team’s training and conditioning, or lack thereof.
It doesnt matter. Once injury prone, always injury prone. It was just a matter of time. Plus, ND has lost 75% of their starting defensive lineup to season ending injuries during the past three seasons. It’s all to be expected.
did notre dame lose another player to a celebration injury?
Crawford is a special talent. He will be missed on this year’s D.
a Notre Dame starting defender going down for the season isn’t really news anymore.