Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 29, 2022 11 UNDER THE DOME Eli Raridon remarkably recovered from an ACL tear suffered December 2021 in time to be ready for preseason camp. The same injury, though, will cost the Notre Dame freshman tight end the rest of his 2022 season. Raridon will miss the balance of the year with a torn right ACL, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Oct. 20. The injury occurred dur- ing practice and is to the same ACL he tore 10 months ago in a high school basketball game. "He suffered a non-contact knee injury and re-tore his ACL," Freeman said. The 6-foot-6¾, 245-pound Raridon ends his season having played in five games, logging 76 snaps in that span. He did not catch a pass and was tar- geted once. He has a Pro Football Focus run blocking grade of 78.9, second among Notre Dame players behind only sophomore left tackle Joe Alt (89.9). Raridon is the second Notre Dame tight end to be lost for the season with an ACL tear in as many months. Junior Kevin Bauman suffered the same injury in a September practice, ending his year after three games. Bauman's absence elevated Raridon into the No. 2 tight end role behind junior Michael Mayer, which led to him playing 30 snaps vs. North Carolina Sept. 24 and 35 vs. BYU Oct. 8. Sophomore Mitchell Evans returned from a two-month absence due to a foot injury for the Stanford game Oct. 15 and slid into the No. 2 job. Raridon, in turn, played just 4 snaps. Notre Dame now has five healthy scholarship tight ends: Mayer, Evans, soph- omore Cane Berrong, sophomore Davis Sherwood and freshman Holden Staes. Evans played 19 snaps in his return to action against the Cardinal. Berrong has not played this season and was limited during camp and the early part of the season as he recovered from an ACL tear suffered in October 2021. Sher- wood, a tight end/fullback hybrid, totaled 39 snaps in the first six games. He was a run blocker on 35 of them. Staes saw 26 snaps in his first four games, making 1 catch for 11 yards. "Holden is going to have an increased role," Freeman said. "It's great to have Mitch back at a time like this when you lose Eli Raridon. Eli was really, really learning and practicing at a high level, playing at a high level and im- proving. Holden is doing the same thing. He's continuing to get better. "What you're going to see is those three tight ends — Mayer, Mitch Evans and Holden — being your top three guys. Holden's game plan and what he's going to be asked to do will be increased. He's up for the challenge." Raridon, a native of West Des Moines, Iowa, was a four-star recruit and the No. 140 overall prospect in the 2022 class per the On3 Consensus. He originally committed to Notre Dame in May 2021 over Iowa, Iowa State and Tennessee. — Patrick Engel Raridon, a freshman tight end, suffered his second ACL tear in 10 months. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER One of Notre Dame's captains will miss the rest of the season. Graduate student linebacker Bo Bauer suffered a knee injury in practice that ended his 2022 campaign. "It's devastating because he's a captain, provides so much, more than just production, just the energy and ability to motivate our players," head coach Marcus Freeman said. "It's going to be a tremendous loss for us." Bauer played in five games this season, making one start. He had 9 tackles and blocked a punt. Bauer has played 56 career games with zero career absences and needed to appear in 11 contests this year to break the program record for career games played, which defensive tackle Kurt Hinish (2017-21) set last season with 61. The ticket to Bauer getting on the field as a freshman in 2018 was special teams. He logged 145 snaps on coverage units that season, per Pro Football Focus, playing on punt return, kick returns and kickoff coverage. He added punt coverage in 2019 and has played all four units each season. He logged at least 230 special teams snaps each of the past three years and led Notre Dame with 102 this season. All told, Bauer has played 1,014 special teams snaps. He led the team in that category every season from 2019-21. Bauer's best defensive season came in 2021. He finished sixth on the team in tackles (47), while adding 4 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 5 passes broken up and 1 interception in 13 games. He made one start and played 354 defensive snaps. He returned for the 2022 season using the COVID-19 bonus year. Sophomore linebacker Prince Kollie saw the biggest playing time jump in Bauer's absence, logging a career-high 21 snaps in the loss to Stanford Oct. 15. Kollie has 4 tackles and 1 sack in 39 snaps this season. Freshman Junior Tuihalamaka played just 1 snap against the Cardinal. Bauer is the second Notre Dame captain to suffer a season-ending injury since August. Graduate student wide receiver Avery Davis tore his ACL in preseason camp. "You hurt so much for a guy like Bo who gives everything to this place," Freeman said. "He's an emotional leader. He's a captain. He's unselfish. He's a guy I coached last year one on one being in the linebacker room. You feel so bad for him. "But you know what? You have to look at your team and say, 'It's the next guy's opportunity.' No matter if it's on special teams or defense, you've got to be ready to go. And that's why depth is so important." — Patrick Engel NOTRE DAME CAPTAIN OUT FOR SEASON WITH KNEE INJURY ELI RARIDON WILL MISS THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON AFTER RE-INJURING HIS KNEE