'Significant' ankle injury for LB Drayk Bowen costly for Notre Dame

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Notre Dame football senior linebacker Drayk Bowen made his 36th consecutive start in Saturday’s 35-13 win over Navy. After the two-time captain missed the second half with an injury to his lower right leg, walking off after the game with a boot on his foot/ankle area, Bowen’s availability next week against top-ranked Miami is in question. “He was just out for the game,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “We’ll get an injury report on Sunday, so we’ll see how significant that injury was.” USA Today reported Bowen had suffered a "significant" injury, with one source telling John Brice the standout was "likely done for the rest of the regular season, at least." Bowen led Notre Dame with seven first-half tackles, pushing his team-leading total to 45 combined tackles this year. Sophomore Madden Faraimo stepped in for Bowen in the second half, but it was unclear which linebacker wore the “green dot” helmet allowing sideline communication with coordinator Chris Ash. Top reserve linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa also missed the Navy game with a lingering left thumb injury suffered Oct. 3 at North Carolina. He played 35 snaps in the loss at BYU two weeks ago, but he has missed two of the past three games. “We tried,” Freeman said. “It’s a healing thing. He just wasn’t going to be available for this game, but we expect him to be back for next week.” Report card: Grading Notre Dame football performance in win over Navy Linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Jaylen Sneed finished with a combined 14 tackles against Navy. All-America cornerback Leonard Moore, who suffered a concussion in the UNC game, also sat for the second time in three games. Moore was available in a pinch against run-first Navy but never saw the field. “It would’ve been better for him long term if we didn’t play him today,” Freeman said. “If we didn’t have to (use him), we tried to hold him out.” Sixth-year defensive tackle Jason Onye played five early snaps against Navy but sat out the rest of a chippy game. Fellow defensive tackle Francis Brewu, the Pitt transfer, also was lifted after just seven snaps. Onye missed five games following left ankle surgery before returning to play 24 snaps at BYU. Injury troubles on offense as well The Irish appear much healthier on offense, but starting tight end Cooper Flanagan has played a total of seven snaps the past two games, all against Navy. Top backup James Flanigan played zero snaps on offense against Navy as a precaution. “Both of those guys are a little bit banged up,” Freeman said. “We were limited. We didn’t want to play Coop too much. He still wasn’t feeling 100%. James Flanigan, we knew we could get a lot out of him, but we wanted to be smart with how much we played him.” Reserve Jack Larsen and freshman Ian Premer each made a catch, combining for 29 receiving yards, against the Midshipmen. Premer played a career-high 33 snaps on offense, while Larsen played 33. In addition, third-year wideout Micah Gilbert was sidelined as a precaution in the second half with an apparent ankle issue. Notre Dame’s second-leading receiver made two catches for 21 yards and a score in the first half, but second-year man Jerome Bettis Jr. stepped in after the break to make six catches for 78 yards and a score at the boundary spot. “I saw him hobbling a little bit,” Freeman said of Gilbert. “They never told me he was out of the game. but I saw him meeting with Rob Hunt, our trainer, and looking at his ankle. We were going to be intentional about trying to get Jerome in the game and some of those other wide receivers.” Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerar dino.