After No. 7 Notre Dame Football’s 27-17 win over No. 10 Indiana, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman provided an injury update on a graduate student defensive lineman Rylie Millswho left Friday night’s game at the start of the second half.

“There is optimism,” Freeman Scott Van Pelt said on ESPN after the game. “I won’t go into detail about what they told me, but it sounds like the season isn’t over yet. We need to get him here in the next 10 to 11 days and get him ready for the upcoming competition down in New Orleans.”

With 12:57 left in the third quarter, Mills sacked the Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke on first down. Moments later, Mills was on the ground holding his right knee. Notre Dame’s medical team went to the field to assess the situation.

After about two minutes of on-field evaluation, Mills cautiously walked off the field to the injury tent. He spent about four minutes in there before appearing on the sideline without a helmet. When walking on the sidelines, Blue and gold noticed that Mills was noticeably limping, which the ESPN reporter noticed Molly McGrath detailed in a report with 4:21 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“Rylie Mills came out of the injury tent cautiously, protecting his right leg,” McGrath said. “The athletics training staff forced him to put a brace on his right knee, but he did so reluctantly. He told his teammates he was fine, but had a noticeable limp. It looks like he’s going to try these braces and see if they help.”

Mills did not return to the game. Before the injury, he had two solo tackles, including his sack. Senior defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio replaced him and had 2 tackles.

Entering Friday night’s game, Notre Dame was already razor-thin on defense, particularly at defensive tackle. Preseason All-America nose tackle Howard Cross III returned to the lineup for the first time in a month after being sidelined with an ankle injury on Nov. 9 against Florida State. The Irish are also playing without a senior Jason Onyewho left the team after five games.

At Vyper, Notre Dame played without starting and backup players at the beginning of the season. PhD student Jordan Boetlho suffered a season-ending knee injury on September 14 against Purdue. Then in the second year Boubacar Traore injured his knee two weeks later against Louisville. As a result, he had to take a break for the rest of the year.

Mills has 37 tackles (19 solo), 8.5 stops for loss and 7.5 sacks this season.