Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME More Numbers At Safety Notre Dame's shrunken numbers at the safety position received a boost during the preparation for Navy when senior Eilar Hardy and fifth-year senior and team captain Austin Collinsworth were cleared to practice. Whether they will be able to aid the Fighting Irish cause in game action, though, remained unclear. Hardy was the lone player among five in the academic fraud investigation who is back on the 2014 practice field. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly now hopes he also will be okayed at some point this season to participate in game action. " There are things that would need to take place and those are above what I would [be able to] control," Kelly said. "We'd like to get him cleared and that's a process we're working through right now." Hardy may be allowed back at practice but still might not play this season and transfer before he serves his ban. An 11-game starter last year, Collinsworth was pegged as the starting strong safety this year be- fore suffering an MCL injury two days before the opener versus Rice Aug. 30. He saw game action Oct. 4 against Stanford and started the next week versus North Carolina, but a shoulder dislocation early in the first quarter put him on the sidelines again, leaving the remainder of his season in limbo. Notre Dame's medical staff placed a shoulder harness on Collinsworth that allowed him to see practice time the week of the Navy game. Kelly said he will leave the decision on possible playing time for Collinsworth up to the medical team, Collinsworth and his family. "He wants to play," Kelly said. "If our doctors feel as though they can protect him and he can be produc- tive … then they will try to get him out there." Earlier this season, Notre Dame lost junior safety Nicky Baratti for the second year in a row because of shoulder surgery. The safety slots have featured sophomore Max Redfield starting at free safety and junior Elijah Shumate at strong safety. The backup options are limited to senior nickel Matthias Farley and freshman Drue Tran- quill. Kelly said there are no plans to move anyone else, such as Sam linebackers James Onwualu or John Turner (recruited as a safety), to the position. The return of Hardy is important just because it aids the practices. "It's helpful," Kelly said. "He knows our defense very well even though he didn't get much work [due to the investigation]. In the spring he got a ton of work." Fifth-year senior safety Austin Collinsworth, who finished 2013 with three interceptions and 43 tack- les, was expected to lead the way for the Itish sec- ondary this fall but has been hampered by injuries. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA