ND FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Irish continue to compete as season nears

Aug. 19—SOUTH BEND — The Notre Dame football team is now two weeks into fall camp, and the competitive nature of which head coach Marcus Freeman and his coaching staff have instilled in this year's group continued into Thursday's high intensity scrimmage.

"Just finished about a 90-play jersey scrimmage," said Freeman on Thursday. "We tried to make the situations as competitive as we could. ... We got about 30 plays each with the ones and twos, and I was really pleased with what I saw."

Freeman told the media that the offense was the winner of the scrimmage due to the lack of turnovers. Only one takeaway was registered by the defense, with graduate senior defensive back TaRiq Bracy intercepting a pass from sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner.

Freeman said Thursday's scrimmage will likely be the last heavy contact scrimmage before playing Ohio State on Sept. 3. He mentioned the team and his staff have to be intelligent moving forward in regards to staying healthy and making sure as many players as possible are available heading into the season opener.

"Now that we're about two weeks out from Ohio State, we'll have to be very smart about how we prepare, but overall, I've been really pleased with the 12 practices we've had," Freeman said. "You challenge this group, and they always rise to the challenge."

DIGGS OUT OF RED JERSEY

A big part of Thursday's scrimmage that Freeman was happy with was how well the running backs performed.

"We have to be able to run the football," Freeman said. "Running the football to me really creates so much space in terms of the pass game. Being on the defensive side, I understand this. When you don't feel like you can stop the run at will, you try to do different things defensively. All of a sudden, that opens up the pass game. To see our offense be able to run the ball well (Thursday) was really good to see."

The Fighting Irish have a trio of capable running backs in junior Chris Tyree and sophomores Audric Estime and Logan Diggs, who all have the potential of breaking through the line of scrimmage on any given play.

All three have shown great burst during fall camp. However, Diggs hasn't been at full strength since injuring his shoulder in the Blue-Gold Game in April.

The sophomore from Louisiana has been wearing a red, non-contact jersey all of fall camp to protect that recovering shoulder before the regular season.

"I've really learned how much contact you actually get out there," said Diggs of wearing the red jersey. "I'm not really getting hit much obviously. I've really realized how much I love football, because it's been hard having to just watch at times. Being around it and not being able to participate fully has been the most challenging thing."

On Thursday, Freeman said he expected Diggs to be in a blue jersey sometime next week, but the timeline was inevitably sped up with Diggs participating without a red jersey for the first time since the spring Friday.

Diggs wouldn't commit to being fully ready to go for Sept. 3, but with two weeks to get acclimated to contact and test his shoulder, it would seem he has a solid chance of being in a helmet and pads down in Columbus against the Buckeyes.

"If you ask me, my shoulder is healed," Diggs said. "But I know there's still protocol we have to follow and caution we have to take. I'm just taking it day-by-day."

PATTERSON QUESTIONABLE FOR SEASON OPENER

The Irish took a hit along their offensive line earlier this week when graduate senior guard Jarrett Patterson injured his foot in practice, leaving his status up in the air for Notre Dame's date with Ohio State.

"Patterson has a foot sprain," Freeman said. "Right now, we're being cautious on his return. We're going to have to rest it for a while. We think once we get through about a 10-day period of resting, he can go as long as he can tolerate the pain.

"Right now, I'd say he's questionable for Ohio State. But I know (Patterson), and I know his mentality. As a head coach, I expect him to probably be out there, because I know the type of competitor he is."

With Patterson scooting around at practice Friday, Notre Dame had a couple of guys rotating at the vacant spot in the lineup.

Junior Andrew Kristofic — who started in multiple games last season — has been filling in with the starters, while sophomore Rocco Spindler was another player getting some first-team reps as well.

Should Patterson not be able to return in time for the season opener, either Kristofic or Spindler would get the nod in Columbus.

Evan Lepak can be reached at evan.lepak@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240326. Follow him on Twitter @EvanMPLepak.