Notre Dame Football: 8 Irish players OUT for South Florida game

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced that 8 players from the depth chart will not play today against the South Florida Bulls ( TaRiq Bracy, Brendon Clark, Kyle Hamilton, Marist Liufau, Lawrence Keys III, Ovie Oghoufo, Shayne Simon, and Jahmir Smith).

Kyle Hamilton was expected to be out with an ankle injury, but it is unclear why the other seven players will be absent today. With the coronavirus pandemic still very active all over the country, it’s fair to think most could be out due to either positive tests or contact tracing — although there is no confirmation from ND about the cause.

Both BUCKS on the 2-deep are out, so Notre Dame may use a combination of Bo Bauer and Drew White and MIKE and BUCK respectively. For those wondering about Clarence Lewis, with Bracy out — this is the day to see what the freshman can do.

With Clark out now, Drew Pyne will be the backup QB for Ian Book.

This is a significant amount of bodies off of the depth chart, and not only does this impact WHO is starting now — it really changes things up for who comes in as a backup too.