Report: Notre Dame LT Blake Fisher Could Be Out A While

On both Sunday night immediately following Notre Dame’s win over Florida State and again on Monday, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Notre Dame avoided an ACL injury to starting LT Blake Fisher. On Tuesday, The Athletic’s Pete Sampson reported on Irish Illustrated’s podcast that the injury is more severe than Kelly may have initially indicated stating that Fisher could be out six weeks with the knee injury.

Blake Fisher’s first career start didn’t even last until half-time until he had to head to the locker room after getting fallen on by a Florida State defender on Joe Wilkins’s touchdown grab in the second quarter. Fisher was in street clothes and a brace for the second half of the game.

When FIsher left for the locker room, sophomore Michael Carmody stepped in and filled in pretty well. Carmody was a fast-riser in camp to earn the first spot off the bench for the offensive line. Expect to see Carmody to stay in the starting lineup moving forward if FIsher does in fact miss six weeks as Sampson reported.

In an ideal world, Carmody will take the opportunity and run with it because the last thing that Brian Kelly and Jeff Quinn want right now is to have to shuffle things around with four new starters this year. There was a lot of talk in the off-season that Jarrett Patterson could play tackle so with Fisher potentially out for a while, that is something that could be revisited if they can’t just plug in Carmody.

When asked about Carmody and who is now next off the bench for Notre Dame at tackle on Monday, Brian Kelly surprised many with one of his answers. Sophomore Tosh Baker looks like the next OT off the bench and right after him, is true freshman Joe Alt according to Kelly. When Notre Dame offered Alt last year, some programs were recruiting him as a tight end and most thought he would need a year or two in the program to make the transition to tackle. It looks like he might see the field a whole lot sooner than that.

A six-week timeframe for Fisher would put the USC game in play for a potential return, but again, this report is still unconfirmed by anyone at Notre Dame. Brian Kelly next meets with the media again on Thursday and is bound to be asked about Fisher’s status in more detail then.