Floyd Ready To Go

Irish sophomore receiver Michael Floyd continues to dominate the headlines this week as he prepares for his return against Navy after missing the last five games recovering from a broken collarbone injury.

Floyd returned to contact drills this week and Irish head coach Charlie Weis said his star wideout performed well and held up just fine.

“He hit the ground multiple times in the week,” Weis said Thursday after practice. “Not that we were drilling him all over the place, we weren’t being stupid, but enough where he got those initial shocks out of the way.”

Weis went on to say Floyd will play “plenty” Saturday and he expects his big-play threat to have one decided advantage over his defenders because he has fresher legs than anyone in the Irish receiving corps.

“He looks very spry,” Weis said.

Other Injuries News

Sophomore left tackle Trevor Robinson injured his ankle against Washington State last Saturday and the hope is to keep him out of any action against Navy. Weis said Robinson will dress and could be called upon if needed but the hope is to keep him on the sideline.

Junior tailback Armando Allen didn’t dress for the Washington State game after aggravating an ankle injury against Boston College the previous week. Weis doesn’t plan on dressing Allen against Navy either, but he expects his starter to be full go in time for the important matchup with No. 14 Pittsburgh on Nov. 14.

“They told me (Allen) is a full go by Tuesday,” Weis said. “I could probably dress him for the (Navy) game…and have him if I needed him, but I would doubt that I would end up doing that.”

The turf toe injury junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen is working through has neither improved nor worsened this week.

“He’s fine. He moved around very well today,” Weis said. “He’ll be fine to run the operation.”

Speaking Of Clausen

Weis said the firestorm of speculation this week about whether Clausen will return to Notre Dame or head to the NFL after this season is a waste of breath, ink and time.

The coach, the player and the player’s family will meet about the decision in December and until then, any reports are nothing more than guesswork.

“I think the only distraction is everybody wants to give their prediction. ‘Well, he’s going to go out. We know he is going to do this,’ ” Weis said. “Trust me, they don’t know because I don’t know, and I would know long before they would know.

“There’s a lot of football to be played yet. If four weeks from now he’s lit it up and is voted the best player in college football, it’s going to be a tough one. But there’s a lot of football to be played.”

Weis said he plans on calling on his NFL resources after the regular season to help Clausen get a better feel for where he stands in draft circles

Specialty Change

Senior punter Eric Maust outperformed freshman Ben Turk in practice this week so Weis expects to make a change there Saturday.

Maust started the season as the No.1 punter and averaged 39.8 yards a punt in his 14 kicks and four games. Turk averaged 35.0 yards in his 18 punts and four games.