Notre Dame Football: Michael Young’s injury will force the youth movement at wide receiver

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish might have to dip even more into its pool of young players on offense with the recent injury of wide receiver Michael Young. During a scrimmage period on Saturday, Young left practice and since then — news of a broken collarbone and surgery has surfaced. Regardless of what has been said, or what will be said, 6-8 weeks should be the expectancy of a return from a collarbone break.

So where does that leave the Irish?

In practice, Chris Finke was moved over to Young’s spot and Lawrence Keys III was positioned in the slot. Keys has been the sophomore receiver that has received the most praise throughout fall camp, and is a natural fit. Still... this does leave a depth issue moving forward.

Perhaps this wouldn’t be all that terrible if the fate of Kevin Austin was better known. We’re pretty sure he will serve the same type of suspension as Dexter Williams and Kevin Stepherson have done in the past — but obviously we have no way of confirming that just yet.

There are other options still with Joe Wilkins and Braden Lenzy as well, but let’s be honest with ourselves here... Michael Young is a big loss. Young had a good spring and was doing the same this August. He was becoming a big part of the Irish passing game — which has already took a hit with Cole Kmet’s broken collarbone.

It will be curious to see how the Irish move forward from here with a starting receiver and tight end out for September. It’s a chance for the young players to step up, and if the Irish want to compete with the Georgia Bulldogs, they will have to do exactly that.

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