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Other news on the Notre Dame injury front is more positive. Fellow fifth-year senior Jamoris Slaughter said during the week that he was optimistic about his chances of getting a sixth season of eligibility for next fall. Slaughter tore his Achilles tendon in the third game of the regular season, against Michigan State, this year. Last month, he petitioned the NCAA for another chance to play and expects to hear by the end of January. In the meantime, he continues to rehab the Achilles injury. He is currently three months into a six-month recovery period. "I'm getting there," he said. "It takes a while. I'm probably three months out of surgery, so I'd say three months until I'm fully healed and another two to three months until the agility, speed, power is back … it's a process." Junior cornerback Lo Wood is about a month ahead of Slaughter in his recovery from an identical Achilles injury he suffered in August. Wood was expected to start at cornerback be- fore the injury occurred. He was replaced by KeiVarae Russell, who made the CBSSports. com and Sporting News Freshman All-America teams this season. Wood hopes to give him a run for his starting job next year. "That's my biggest motivation, to come back and try to get my starting job back," he said. "It's going to be a challenge, but it can happen. You just have to work hard. We're all going to be able to play next year." Sophomore running back Amir Carlisle, who transferred from USC last spring, expects to participate in spring practice at 100 percent health. Carlisle broke his ankle shortly after arriving on campus and nerve damage from the injury kept him off the field all season. The Week In Miami Notre Dame's coaches and players appeared loose and comfortable in the week leading up Monday's game against the Crimson Tide. Head coach Brian Kelly said only minutes after stepping off a plane at the Fort Lauderdale airport that he wanted his team to enjoy the experience. "We want to have fun while we're here too," Kelly said. "This is a business trip. There's no question we're here to play the game, but I want our guys relaxed. They've done all the work. We've got some practices we've got to take care of, but I want them relaxed and ready to play." The players seemed to enjoy the various media and public events in which they took part during the week in South Florida. They choked down an impressive amount of meat during a team dinner at the Fogo de Chao Steakhouse on Thursday, Jan. 3. Friday was a team beach party, and the players interviewed one another and held a special edition of a team ritual "Trick Shot Monday" — in which various team members try to bounce a ping pong ball into a cup of water, either off the wall or some other way — on Saturday during their media day event. On Sunday morning, some members of the team visited a local children's hospital. ✦