With all the attention at Tuesday's media viewing of Notre Dame football practice on Jimmy Clausen's new Darth Vader look and embattled head coach Charlie Weis, one player fell under the radar.
Tight <NOBR style="COLOR: darkgreen; FONT-SIZE: 100%; FONT-WEIGHT: normal" id=itxt_nobr_1_0>End </NOBR>Kyle Rudolph, who missed the last two and a half games with a shoulder injury, worked out 'full go' and is expected to play in Saturday's season finale at Stanford. Rudolph injured his shoulder in the third quarter of the Navy game and there was a fear at the time, it was a broken collar bone. It wasn't and here Rudolph is ready to help his team again.
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“I think I’ve recovered a little quicker than I thought and what they (team doctors) thought," Rudolph said in quotes provided by the Notre Dame Sports Information Department. The Irish cut off media access to players this week.
"Just going along there really hasn’t been any setbacks. There has been a lot of soreness trying to push it to get myself ready to play but other than that I’m just doing all of the rehab that they have me doing to try and get back on the field as quick as I can.”
Irish head coach Charlie Weis said Tuesday it will all be about how much pain Rudolph can take on Saturday. Rudolph says he doesn't expect there to be limitations in practice.
“As of right now I wouldn’t think so. I haven’t really tested it yet but we will see as practice goes on this week in how I’m able to use it. Obviously, if I’m limited in any way then they won’t let me go. They’re not just going to put me out there to put me out there. They want me out there because I can do everything like I used to be able to.”
