Indiana football expects to be at full health vs Notre Dame: ‘We’re in pretty good shape’

Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti is expecting his team to be at full health on Friday when IU travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

The Hoosiers have been in good health most of the year but were without a key member of its secondary for their season-finale against Purdue.

Cornerback Jamier Johnson missed the final game of the regular season with an undisclosed injury but appears good to go, according to Cignetti.

“Yeah, our health is good,” Cignetti said on Monday. “Jamier is out there practicing, looks good. We’re in pretty good shape.”

Johnson has started opposite of D’Angelo Ponds and had 34 tackles with one interception this year.

Indiana’s duo of Ponds and Johnson helped lead IU’s passing defense to the third-best in the Big Ten, holding opponents to 174.0 yards per game this season.

“I thought we took a big step coming off the first bye week. It was when we played Nebraska here at home. I thought the defense took a step there. We made a couple changes schematically. I changed a couple of things coverage-wise and shell rotation disguise, the staff and I did,” IU defensive coordinator Bryant Haines added on Monday. “I thought we really did a good job of self-scouting and identifying a couple of flaws in our system and came up with a couple of new ideas that have really paid off. That’s to me when I felt like, okay, we have the complete package now, was the Nebraska game.

“Since then, it still hasn’t been perfect, I don’t know if it will ever be what I consider perfect, but it’s what I would deem a legitimate defense.”

Outside of Johnson, Indiana football has been extremely healthy throughout the season aside from offensive linemen Drew Evans, who suffered an achilles injury midseason, and Nick Kidwell, who suffered a knee injury in the preseason — both of whom have missed extended periods of time.

Indiana and Notre Dame play Friday night at 8:00 pm ET on ESPN. The winner will play Georgia on January 1 in New Orleans.

SEE ALSO: ‘What a great storyline’ — All eyes on the state of Indiana this week as IU football, Notre Dame usher in the new College Football Playoff era

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