SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame football has suffered yet another major setback, losing team captain and sacks leader Rylie Mills to a season-ending right knee injury.
The fifth-year graduate defensive tackle left last week’s first-round College Football Playoff win after landing awkwardly on a sack of Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke on the first play of the second half.
Set to face No. 2 Georgia on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, No. 7 seed Notre Dame’s third-ranked scoring defense must turn to reserve interior linemen such as Gabriel Rubio and Donovan Hinish.
“You can’t replace Rylie Mills,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Monday. “You lose a captain, and it’s tough. It’s a terrible loss. … I feel sorry for Rylie Mills because I love that guy. He’s just a great person, a great player. But you don’t feel sorry for yourself.”
Monday’s injury report also listed starting right guard Rocco Spindler (right ankle) and freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (right knee) as questionable. Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Charles Jagusah, out since August after shoulder surgery, will return to full practice availability this week.
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Mills finishes with 17 career sacks, including 7.5 this season. His 62 career games tie him for third-most in program history, and his 29 consecutive starts ranked fifth in program history for defensive linemen.
At 6-foot-5 and 295 pounds, the Lake Bluff, Ill., product played 539 snaps this season, 116 more than the next closest defensive lineman (nose tackle Howard Cross III).
Mills gave the Irish a career-high 64 defensive snaps in the Nov. 30 win over USC to clinch a playoff spot, but he hobbled off with the help of two trainers after his 19th defensive snap against the Hoosiers.
Rubio (29 snaps) and Hinish (20) filled the gap after Mills went out, but freshman Sean Sevillano Jr. and second-year tackle Armel Mukam could pick up the slack against the Bulldogs. Georgia is tied for 79th in FBS with 4.2 yards per carry, and its 21 sacks allowed are four more than Notre Dame has surrendered.
“You feel awful for (Mills) as a person, a guy that decided to come back, improve his draft stock, be a captain,” Freeman said. “The value he provided this team is tremendous. He’s done an excellent job as a football player and a leader.
“But you have to replace the production. You have to replace what he did for our defense in different ways. We have capable guys that will step up, that have stepped up all year, that we’re very confident in. Those guys will have a bigger role this week.”
At midseason, Notre Dame lost junior cornerback and team captain Benjamin Morrison to a hip injury that required surgery. Freshman Leonard Moore stepped in, and the Irish pass defense has remained elite.
“This program knows what it has to do to continue to prepare and perform at a high level,” Freeman said. “That’s what you have to do. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. You own it and you say, ‘OK, how do we find ways to improve?’ And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
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