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The USC football team is famously missing a handful of key players heading into its matchup against Notre Dame this week, especially at the running back position, but it turns out the Irish have been hit by the injury bug this week as well.
Earlier this week, news broke that Irish starting center Ashton Craig will be out for the season. Today, fans found out they will also be missing a key defensive player against the Trojans.
“The hits kept coming for the Irish, as on Thursday we found out that defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio has been ruled out of the game this weekend against USC with an elbow injury according to The Athletic’s Pete Sampson,” Michael Chen of Fighting Irish Wire wrote. “While he isn’t a starter, the senior has been getting a good amount of playing time having 13 tackles and 0.5 sacks on the year.”
“Notre Dame will now turn to a trio of players which include Jared Dawson, Cole Mullins and Elijah Hughes (who is facing his former team in the Trojans). The good news is that the majority of these three have played this fall, as Dawson has been very solid and Hughes is working on a two-game sack streak.”
Hughes is a junior who spent the first two seasons of his college career at USC. In his time as a Trojan, Hughes played in 15 games and recorded 12 total tackles (2.5 for loss), and 1.5 sacks.
Hughes has played in all 6 games so far for the Irish this season and already has career highs in total tackles with 11 and tackles for loss with 2.
Given that Hughes is a former Trojan who the Irish will have to lean on extensively on Saturday, he immediately becomes one of the most intruiging player storylines to watch on Saturday.
The Trojan offensive line will look to take advantage of Rubio’s absence on have another dominant game in the trenches.
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