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Notre Dame football vs. Pittsburgh: Keep your eye on these 4 players Saturday

Tom Noie, South Bend Tribune
·4 min read

SOUTH BEND — Bye week be gone, at least for a few weeks.

It’s game week again for No. 14 Notre Dame football (6-2) which is back from a bye after eight straight games to start 2023. Here are four players to watch in Saturday’s home game against porous Pittsburgh (2-5), which has lost five of its last six.

More: Slumping Tobias Merriweather dropped to second team for Notre Dame football offense

PITTSBURGH

RB C'BO FLEMISTER (24)

Flemister ran for 471 yards on 110 carries and 10 touchdowns during his four seasons at Notre Dame (2018-21) before leaving as a graduate transfer prior to the spring of 2022.

Former Notre Dame running back C'Bo Flemister has has shown he can be an every-down guy this season for Pittsburgh.
Former Notre Dame running back C'Bo Flemister has has shown he can be an every-down guy this season for Pittsburgh.

Flemister has found a larger role, one he never could secure in South Bend, where he was seen mostly as a short-yardage sledgehammer. Third and goal? Fourth and one? Give it to C’Bo and get out of his way. Through seven weeks, he leads Pitsburgh in rushing (68 carries for 282 yards and two touchdowns) and all-purpose yards (380 total). Flemister ran for 221 yards on 40 carries last season.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pounder from Williamson, Georgia is coming off his first career 100-yard day after running for 105 yards on 23 carries in Pitt’s 21-17 loss Saturday at Wake Forest.

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Flemister ran for 2,348 yards and 35 touchdowns as a prep senior. He has an anthropology degree from Notre Dame and is working toward a communications degree at Pittsburgh.

LB SHAYNE SIMON (32)

Another name Irish fans should be familiar with. Like Flemister, Simon spent four years at Notre Dame (2018-21) before leaving as a graduate transfer after earning his degree in finance. He’s now finishing a master’s degree in supply chain management at Pittsburgh and is a key contributor to the Panthers’ defense.

A spot starter at Notre Dame – eight starts, all in 2020, over a 32-game career – the 6-3, 235-pound Simon is the starting middle linebacker after playing all 13 games last season as the “money” linebacker. Simon ranks fourth in tackles with 27 (13 solos). He’s tied for third with five tackles for loss and tied for the team lead in sacks with three (for 23 yards).

Former Notre Dame linebacker/special teams standout Shayne Simon has found a home as a main guy for the Pittsburgh defense.
Former Notre Dame linebacker/special teams standout Shayne Simon has found a home as a main guy for the Pittsburgh defense.

A native of West Orange, New Jersey, Simon was a special teams staple during his Irish times. The 23-year-old's highlight was a career-high four tackles with one tackle for loss and two pass breakups in the 2020 double-overtime victory over No. 1 Clemson.

NOTRE DAME

WR JAYDEN THOMAS (83)

Thomas was ticketed to possibly be the team’s most valuable receiver at the start of the season, especially after his work last December in the Gator Bowl (team-high five catches for 66 yards). He then started strong against Navy in the opener with four catches, 63 yards and a touchdown. He added four more catches for another 63 yards in Week Four against Central Michigan, but has since been an afterthought, thanks in part to a pulled hamstring that forced him to miss the Louisville game.

Notre Dame wide receiver Jayden Thomas has been quiet - too quiet - this season. Some of it has been because of a pulled hamstring. Some of it has been because of, who knows?
Notre Dame wide receiver Jayden Thomas has been quiet - too quiet - this season. Some of it has been because of a pulled hamstring. Some of it has been because of, who knows?

Since that CMU game, Thomas has caught only three passes for 40 yards. The bye week could be to his benefit – it hopefully helped him get healthy and earn back the trust of quarterback Sam Hartman, who still doesn’t seem to have a true go-to guy.

If Thomas could be that over the season’s final four games, it would alleviate a lot of pressure on any number of positions — wide receiver, quarterback, offensive coordinator.

DL BOUBACAR TRAORE (51)

One game, two defensive snaps from scrimmage, one sack.

Those are the season stats for the 6-4, 237-pound freshman from Boston, who bull-rushed his way into the rotation, and maybe into the future game plan of coordinator Al Golden, with a big sack (six yards) of Caleb Williams in the USC game. Watching Traore blow by a Trojan lineman and smother Williams — who fumbled, but recovered, you wondered if he might find his way more into the mix. He’s long. He’s lanky. He looks the part of future beast/freak/problem. Watch out.

Freshman vyper end Boubacar Traore opened some eyes with his sack of USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Might we see more of Traore moving forward?
Freshman vyper end Boubacar Traore opened some eyes with his sack of USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Might we see more of Traore moving forward?

Why did it take so long for Traore to crack the rotation? He finally earned the trust of the coaching staff. Time to trust him a little more moving forward. Traore could still play three of the final four regular-season games without losing a year of eligibility, He’s currently listed No. 4 on the depth chart. He doesn’t look like a fourth-string vyper. Let him loose, especially this week.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football vs. Pittsburgh preview 4 players to watch