Slaughter expected to start for Irish

Published Sep. 21, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Notre Dame safety Jamoris Slaughter is expected to start against Stanford on Saturday after missing one game and another start with a sprained ankle.

Slaughter is ''moving much better,'' Irish coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday. Slaughter missed the Michigan game after spraining his ankle in the season opener against Purdue, and came off the bench in last weekend's overtime loss at Michigan State.

Also, Notre Dame has notified the NCAA that defensive line coach and special teams coordinator Mike Elston has returned to the staff. Elston missed the Michigan game and did not coach against Michigan State after being hospitalized with a viral illness, and his responsibilities were covered by other members of Kelly's staff.

''I'm going to be with the team the rest of the season. That's what the expectation is,'' Elston said after Notre Dame's practice Tuesday.

Elston said he didn't want to go into much detail about the illness, but said he first began feeling its effects Aug. 2. Kelly had said earlier that Elston gave at least 72 vials of blood as doctors tried to get a handle on the illness, and Elston said they also also took bone marrow.

''I went through an unbelievable amount of poking and prodding and taking blood,'' Elston said. ''But it was necessary.''

Asked if he was feeling completely healthy again, Elston said, ''I'm getting there, yeah.''