No. 3 Notre Dame turns focus to Rice with Freeman calling for a ‘bloody Tuesday’

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Notre Dame climbed one spot to No. 3 in the latest AP Top 25 following its 41-13 season-opening win over Wisconsin, but head coach Marcus Freeman is already focused on what needs to improve before the Irish host Rice on Saturday.

Freeman said Tuesday’s practice would remain physical as the Irish work to correct the slow start they experienced against Wisconsin.

“I thought deeply about it, do we take off the shoulder pads Tuesday because we just played Sunday?” Freeman said. “But I’m not going to. We have to have a bloody Tuesday, and I just made a decision that’s what we’re going to do today.”

Notre Dame will also have to work at naming some adjustments defensively in Week 2.

Defensive tackle Jason Onye will miss Saturday’s game with an ankle injury. Freeman said Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray impressed him against Wisconsin and are expected to take on larger roles alongside Armel Mukam while Onye is sidelined.

Safety Brauntae Johnson will also miss the Rice game with a foot injury.

Freeman expects both Johnson and Onye to be out for a couple of weeks but said both are expected to return at some point this season.

But there was more encouraging news regarding linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, who missed the season opener with a knee injury. Viliamu-Asa remains officially questionable, but Freeman said the linebacker is trending toward making his season debut Saturday.

“He’s trending in a way where we expect him to be out there on Saturday,” Freeman said. “We were intentional about the work we put in last week to see if he could be ready physically and mentally and I think we were a couple days away, and as of today, we’re expecting him to get out there a little bit on Saturday.”

Notre Dame will continue preparations for Rice this week, with select players scheduled to speak following Wednesday’s practice.