Brian Kelly doubles down against allegations that Notre Dame defenders faked injury against Georgia
By Keith Farner
Published:
Allegations about Notre Dame players faking an injury against Georgia continues to be a storyline around the program. Coach Brian Kelly was asked about it again on Monday.
A reporter at Kelly’s press conference on Monday mentioned that Gary Danielson referred to one fake injury during a replay, as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was pulled down by a teammate. Then another Fighting Irish player went down in unusual fashion later in the game. Kelly was asked about it after the game, but also again on Monday.
“Well, I don’t know where that really comes from,” Kelly said, according to a transcript from ASAP Sports. “You know, our protocol is if any player has suffered an injury and they’re not feeling right, we want them to go down. We want them to get medical attention.”
Kelly after the game said his players were evaluated for a concussion and were cramping in the two incidents.
“We have a medical spotter that is communicating with our trainers, and we don’t want to risk anybody that’s not feeling right,” he said. “So I’m proud of our guys that they have, you know, made sure that that procedure is followed correctly. We’re not going to fake injuries. We’re a tempo team. We’re going to make sure that protocol is followed based upon what our training staff wants under those conditions.”
During the game, Danielson suggested that teams who commit fake injuries should be penalized in some fashion, but in a conversation with CBS rules analyst and former referee Gene Steratore, Steratore said it’s difficult to evaluate that in real time, and that health and safety of players are typically given the benefit of the doubt.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
