It appears Tony Jones is in, no one new is out, and Trevor Ruhland will have help in his new role as sixth-ranked Notre Dame visits No. 24 Virginia Tech this weekend college football’s prime time game of the week.
Add to that news the resilience of Drue Tranquill – he of the broken left hand Saturday night against Stanford and it’s almost all hands on deck for Brian Kelly’s Irish.
“In the game you play with so much adrenaline that it was no issue,” said Kelly of Tranquill’s injury. “As it started to swell and was sore I think he was little tender and sore on Tuesday, but by today he was back playing and flying around and playing like Drue Tranquill.
“We’ll bring that (cast size) down a little bit smaller than it is right now.
“He’s just a – he’s a pretty impressive young man,” Kelly added.
Asked if Tony Jones (second half left ankle injury against the Cardinal) would be available Saturday night Kelly offered, “Yes. Yes, absolutely.”
LEFT SIDE
It was doubtless Notre Dame’s strong side when captain Alex Bars manned the left guard spot. Now it’s a bit of a question mark with one-game starter Trevor Ruhland (right guard against Wake Forest) stepping into Bars’ role.
The veteran – technically a backup center and likely the 2019 starter at that position as a graduate student – might have help in Blacksburg.
“(Aaron) Banks will play too,” said Kelly of his 6’6” 320-pound redshirt-freshman. “Ruhland (295 pounds) will start but Banks will definitely be on the field as well.”
Banks has transitioned from a summer playing right tackle to guard in Bars’ absence.
“I think he’s always been ascending. Opportunity as you know is probably the chief reason why he’s now much more in the mix,” Kelly offered. “He’s a big athletic kid that has gained confidence in his ability, to put it bluntly.
“I think what we like about him the most is he’s adapted well to go from tackle to guard this week…and uh – kind of excited to watch him play.”
Ruhland is presumed to have the upper hand because of experience and knowledge of the game as well as quick feet for the move game. Kelly though downplayed the former.
“There won’t be much communicating,” he said when asked if Banks might have trouble in that realm in his first high leverage situation. “We’re set up where they’re going to have to do some things on the move. But they know what they’re supposed to do and how. A lot of that will sort itself out by recognition that’s right next to him, the center (Sam Mustipher).
“The center is going to do a lot of that recognition for him. Not that concerned about it.”
Redshirt-freshman running back Jafar Armstrong remains out after surgery to clean a knee infection. Kelly offered the team suffered no other injuries during the week’s preparation.
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