Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 APRIL 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Running back C'Bo Flemister's time with the Fighting Irish is over. Head coach Marcus Freeman said March 17 Flemister is no longer with the team. As of March 28, Flemister had not an- nounced his entrance in the NCAA transfer portal, and such news had not been reported. If he elects to play elsewhere, he has two years of eligibility remaining. Flemister's Notre Dame career never quite took off. He played four snaps across two games as a true freshman in 2018. His sophomore and junior years were his most impactful. He rushed 106 times for 461 yards and 10 touchdowns during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Flemister was on the field for just seven total offensive snaps in 2021. He ran three times for 10 yards, missing the last several games due to a rib injury. His senior season got off to a poor start long before the Fighting Irish ever stepped foot on the field for a game. Flemister was charged with leaving the scene of a car ac- cident in April. Police arrived at the scene near South Bend Avenue and Corby Boulevard and found Flemister's car with the airbags deployed but nobody around. According to The South Bend Tribune, Flemister agreed to a pretrial diversion to have the charges dismissed. He had to complete a substance abuse evaluation, attend a victim impact panel, pay $334 in court fees and perform 25 hours of com- munity service. Had Flemister never entered former head coach Brian Kel- ly's dog house because of the incident, he might have had more opportunities to play this past season — especially with sophomore Chris Tyree hampered by a turf toe injury for half the season. Freshman Logan Diggs emerged as a No. 2 option behind junior Kyren Williams instead. Tyree and Diggs played 1A and 1B roles in the Fiesta Bowl, with freshman Audric Estime backing them up. With Flemister no longer around, Notre Dame is left with Tyree, Diggs, Estime and early enrollee freshman Jadarian Price in the running back room for 2022. — Tyler Horka NOSE TACKLE AIDAN KEANAAINA TO MISS 2022 SEASON Notre Dame will be without another member of its defen- sive line for the remainder of the spring and beyond. Junior-to-be nose tackle Aidan Keanaaina suffered a torn ACL during the Irish's March 17 practice and will miss the 2022 season as a result. He played in four games last season, totaling 33 snaps. He made his first career tackle in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State and appeared in one game as a freshman in 2020. He spent his first two years biding time at one of Notre Dame's deeper positions. With three-year starting nose tackle Kurt Hinish departing, though, Keanaaina was competing for a spot in the rotation this spring. Seniors Jacob Lacey and Howard Cross III are potential starters there. Sophomore Gabriel Rubio is likely to get a look at nose tackle, too, and so should freshman Donovan Hinish — Kurt's younger brother — when he ar- rives in June. The 6-3, 310-pound Keanaaina joins starting three-tech- nique tackle Jayson Ademilola (shoulder) as Notre Dame defensive linemen who are out for the spring due to injury. He signed with Notre Dame in 2020 as a four-star recruit out of Denver's Mullen High School. He was the No. 409 player in the class, per the On3 Consensus. — Patrick Engel CENTER JARRETT PATTERSON SIDELINED BY PECTORAL INJURY Notre Dame's most experienced offensive lineman will be out of commission for spring practice and beyond. Graduate student center Jarrett Patterson suffered a torn pectoral muscle while lift- ing weights during winter workouts and underwent surgery to repair it. He will miss the Irish's 15 spring practices, but is expected to return for the season opener Sept. 3 against Ohio State. Patterson put the NFL Draft on hold to return for a fifth year and a fourth as Notre Dame's starting center. He has started 34 games since taking over in 2019 and is the Irish's most experienced returning offensive lineman. He started all 13 contests in 2021 and has not allowed a sack in more than 1,300 career pass-blocking snaps. Draft analysts pegged him as a possible Day 2 selection before he decided to return to South Bend for another season. With Patterson out, Zeke Correll is the most logical candidate to replace him as the first-team center this spring. The senior-to-be started two games in place of Patterson in 2020 after he suffered a season-ending foot injury. Correll began last season as the primary left guard, but was bumped from the starting lineup in October and finished the season as Patterson's backup. Sixth-year senior Josh Lugg and rising senior Andrew Kristofic have also played center in prior years or offseasons. Lugg started there twice in place of Patterson in 2020, and Kristofic saw time there last spring. Each ended 2021 as a starter, Lugg at right tackle and Kristofic at left guard. Lugg is expected to move back inside this season, with rising sophomores Blake Fisher and Joe Alt manning the tackle spots. — Patrick Engel Senior Running Back C'Bo Flemister No Longer With Program Flemister ran for 471 yards and 10 touchdowns in his four years at Notre Dame. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER