Following Sunday night's game against the Texas Longhorns, wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr. of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish has been placed on concussion protocol. Although the athlete is doing much better now, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly is still unsure if he will be able to play in Saturday's game against the Nevada Wolf Pack.
The incident involving Hunter happened during the third quarter of the Fighting Irish's 50-47 double overtime loss to their long-time rivals the Longhorns. During the last 30 seconds of the quarter, Hunter was at the end zone trying to secure a pass from Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer.
However, Hunter took a huge hit from Texas defensive back DeShon Elliot immediately after catching the ball. Aside from knocking down Hunter, the tackle also jarred the ball from his hands, which caused the referees to call the pass as incomplete.
As noted by ESPN, no flags were thrown or calls made after Elliot's hit on Hunter. The completions or incompletion of the pass was also not reviewed even though current NCAA rules now allow officials to use the replay system to issue new penalties.
According to coach Kelly, the team is planning on questioning why a call was not made against Elliot after tackling Hunter.
"We sent the clip, obviously, to the supervisor or officials with the ACC; we got confirmation back that that would have most likely have been a targeting call," he said in a press conference. "We just don't understand why that was not reviewed by the Big 12."
"I guess they're going to be reaching out to them to find out why that wasn't reviewed, but clearly, win or lose, player safety should be at the front of this game, and we don't believe that that was the case in this instance," he added.
Following the match, Hunter took to Twitter to tell his fans that he's feeling better.
"I'm doing better," he posted. "Thanks for all of the prayers everybody! I'll bounce back."
Aside from Hunter, the team's safety Avery Sebastian was also placed on concussion protocol after the game on Sunday. It is not yet clear if these two will be on the Fighting Irish's lineup when they take on the Wolf Pack this weekend.
