Last season, the Irish were plagued by depth issues at safety. A healthy depth chart, and reinforcements from freshman like Eilar Hardy were supposed to solve that problem.
But news is breaking that the Irish may have suffered their first major injury of fall camp, with both IrishIllustrated.com and BlueandGold.com reporting that freshman safety Eilar Hardy has torn the LCL in his left knee. The injury likely means Hardy will miss the entire season rehabilitating the injury.
Hardy, an Ohio native that had scholarship offers from schools like Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa and Arizona, impressed early in camp with his athleticism, and was in the mix on special teams while providing depth at safety behind Harrison Smith, Jamoris Slaughter, Zeke Motta, Dan McCarthy, and Austin Collinsworth.
Hardy joins running back Cam Roberson and offensive lineman Lane Clelland as Irish football players lost for the season with injuries. There has been no official statement yet out of Notre Dame.