ND receiver Floyd undergoes surgery for broken left collar bone, likely out for season

Floyd undergoes surgery, likely out for season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame will likely be without wide receiver Michael Floyd for the rest of the regular season and quarterback Jimmy Clausen might not be 100 percent when the Fighting Irish play at Purdue on Saturday.

Floyd underwent surgery Sunday for a broken left collar bone. Coach Charlie Weis said he hasn’t been told how long Floyd will be out, but he expects to be without him the rest of the way. Floyd might be available for a bowl game “if we chose to go in that direction,” Weis said.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound sophomore went into the Michigan State game second in the nation in receiving yards at 160 yards a game. He was injured in the 33-30 victory falling to the ground trying to make a touchdown catch.

Weis joked when asked if he had received any news on Clausen, who said after the game that he would undergo X-rays on Sunday.

“Dr. Clausen?” Weis said.

Weis said it appeared Clausen has something between a turf toe and an arch injury on his right foot. Clausen will undergo an MRI “so we know exactly what we have there,” Weis said.

Weis said he expects Clausen to play Saturday against Purdue (1-2).

“I’m under the assumption he’ll try to milk as much time off of me (from practice) as he can,” Weis joked. “Might he be hobbled some? We’ll have to wait and see. But Jimmy’s a tough guy and unless there’s a serious injury, he’s going to do all he can to play. So we’ll just see where we are.”

Clausen injured his right foot when he was sacked in the second quarter, saying he “got tangled up.” He limped some during the game, and missed two plays, but it didn’t appear to affect his play much. He was 22-of-31 passing for 300 yards with two touchdown passes.

Clausen said after the game that his foot bothered him “a little bit.”

Clausen is second in the nation in pass efficiency with a rating of 188.55. He’s completed 62 of 91 passes for 951 yards and nine TD passes. He hasn’t thrown any interceptions. But Floyd has been his most productive receiver, with 358 yards on 13 catches with five touchdowns.

The Irish struggled last season after Floyd injured his left knee on the third play against Navy and then missed the next two games against Syracuse and USC. In the 10 games Floyd played, the Irish were 6-4, averaging 386 yards total offense and 285 yards a game passing. In the other three games, the Irish were 1-2, averaging 254 yards total offense and 147 yards a game passing.

Weis said he already has an idea of how he will handle the loss of Floyd, but said he wouldn’t elaborate until later in the week.

“You can never really replace Michael Floyd, a guy that caliber of player. He’s an A-flight player,” Weis said. “What you have to do is put other people in position to go ahead and pick up some of that responsibility. Having some veterans in that mix certainly makes it easier to do that.”

Senior Robby Parris is listed as Floyd’s backup on the depth chart. But junior Duval Kamara, who held the freshman receiving record until Floyd broke it, is the backup at the other receiver spot. Parris has four catches for 26 yards and one touchdown this season. Kamara has four for 29 yards.

Another possibility is freshman Shaquelle Evans, who has two catches for 15 yards.

“You can anticipate seeing him a heck of a lot more,” Weis said.

Clausen said after the game that he told teammates when Floyd was injured that they needed to step up.

“Whoever you are, if you get in there, you’ve got to make plays,” he said.

Weis said if for some reason Clausen isn’t able to play Saturday, he has confidence in sophomore Dayne Crist, who didn’t play last season.

“I’d feel very confident that we’d go in with a good chance of being very productive with Dayne at quarterback,” Weis said. “I feel better about that every week, and I feel pretty good about it right now.”