Notre Dame CB Nick Watkins Out for 2016 Season
A couple weeks ago it looked like Notre Dame might be able to get Nick Watkins back this season. That glimmer of hope is gone after Brian Kelly announced on Sunday that Watkins’s latest x-ray didn’t give them the news they wanted. Watkins will have to have another surgery and is officially out for the season.
With the Notre Dame secondary under fire this year, the return of Nick Watkins would have been a nice boost, but now the Irish will have to continue with the youth movement in the secondary. Notre Dame has as many as four freshmen in the secondary at times on Saturday against Syracuse.
Watkins originally injured his arm back in the spring, but the injury has been slow to heal. As of a few weeks ago Brian Kelly mentioned that there had been some positive progress in his recovery even suggesting they could get Watkins back in a few weeks if all went well.
Watkins will retain a year of eligibility by sitting out the entire season and will have two years remaining.
Notre Dame will continue to be without Watkins and Shaun Crawford who was injured the second week of the season. Devin Butler’s status remains up in the air as the senior is still suspended and recovering from him his broken foot.
In their absence the secondary has taken a lot of hits this fall so far, but Saturday freshmen Donte Vaughn and Julian Love had their moments. Love got beat on a 72 yard touchdown when he mistimed his jump and fell to the ground leaving Amba Etta-Tawo to race to the endzone uncontested. Love actually had good coverage on the play which is at least encouraging given the breakdowns in coverages that have plagued the defense this year.
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
Lot of talk on these web sites about Kelly being fired and who would replace him. The way I see it is he will be given 2017 to turn things around. If he can’t I think he will be let go. I just hope some staff changes occur. Notre dame needs at the least a great special teams coach and a great d coordinator. Also, I would like to see Kelly move denbrock to full time receivers coach including tight ends and turn the entire offense over to Sanford. Kelly is then freed up to oversee entire team
Next man up. No excuses. These are scholarship kids.