NOTRE DAME - Junior wide receiver Michael Floyd could be back in action for Notre Dame sooner than expected, although not in time for this Saturday's game against USC.

Floyd suffered a broken collarbone on September 19th against Michigan State, diving for a ball in the corner of the endzone. Floyd was originally believed to be out for the remainder of the regular season. The Irish were hoping to have him back for a bowl game. Now, that return could be much sooner.

"You'll even see Floyd out there in a uniform today", head coach Charlie Weis told the media on Tuesday.

"He won't be playing; I'm not going to do that for window dressing, but he looks like he might be ahead of schedule and looks like come November there is a chance we might get him back and playing again. But he can go out there, can't catch balls but he can run around today".

Weis is eying an early November return for his star receiver.

"Today is the first day we're letting him run around with pads, so the players will be a little surprised all of a sudden when they see him running around out there with pads. But we're going to get, I believe it's a cat scan, like the second of November. And based off the results of that cat scan they'll determine if and when we can get him back. You know, obviously, fingers crossed the earliest we can get him back is Pittsburgh."

Floyd leads the nation in yards per catch (27.5), and is still ranked 10th in the nation in touchdown receptions (5) despite missing more than half the season.