Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2024 19 junior Aamil Wagner have been com- peting with each other to take Fisher's spot at right tackle, meanwhile, and the latter has had the upper hand in that battle by taking first-team reps early on in fall camp. Notre Dame will now have to slide one of them over to the left side of the line to fill the void left by Jagusah. In the first practice after the Jagusah in- jury announcement Aug. 6, it was Baker lining up on the left side with Wagner on the right. The injury to Jagusah is a big one. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man has spoken glowingly about him ever since he got the opportunity to make his first career start last Decem- ber. Freeman noted Jagusah's "natural ability" surfacing in his recruitment and then again when he got to South Bend last year. "He has shown on scout team, he has shown in the bye weeks and the individ- ual drills that he's going to be a future great offense lineman for us," Freeman said in December. "Throughout the first couple of practices, we rotated guys at different positions, but he continued to flourish at that left tackle position and has done a really good job." HOW JAGUSAH'S INJURY IMPACTS NOTRE DAME'S OFFENSIVE LINE Jagusah's season-ending injury is a brutal blow for the Fighting Irish, who lost the player they believed would be their best offensive tackle and was po- tentially at least a two-year starter. After Alt and Fisher left for the NFL Draft following the 2023 season, tackle was a position that was already consid- ered thin in South Bend. Now, the Irish might be in dire straits. Wagner is in pole position to start at one of the tackle spots — with Jagusah healthy, it would have been on the right side — while graduate student Tosh Baker will likely slide into the other. The Irish have expressed public confidence in Baker, but in practice he hasn't shown the quickness out of his stance to catch up with Notre Dame's edge rushers. Baker's Pro Football Focus offense grade was 47.2 in 118 snaps in 2023. In 2021, his grade in 186 snaps (including two starts) was 45.3. The veteran's dedi- cation to Notre Dame — he stuck around until his final year of eligibility when he had no path to the starting lineup for two years — is admirable. But there is a reason Wagner passed him so quickly as the calendar turned from spring to fall. Speaking of edge rushers, that hap- pens to be the position at which Notre Dame's opponents are strongest. In Week 1, Purdue transfer and reigning Big Ten sack leader Nic Scourton will lead a talented group of Texas A&M defen- sive ends into battle. Later in the sea- son, third-team All-American Ashton Gillotte awaits with Louisville. Florida State's Patrick Payton has first-round NFL Draft potential, and he'll face the Irish in November. An inexperienced offensive tackle group in a post-Alt and Fisher world against these pass rushers was consid- ered Notre Dame's greatest disadvan- tage — particularly against the Aggies — before Jagusah went down. Now? The Irish could really be in trouble. The starters aren't the only cause for concern. The depth at offensive tackle, at least at the moment, includes veteran Ty Chan — who had also been working at guard — and a trio of freshmen. In the first practice post-Jagusah in- jury, Chan was working with the twos behind Wagner at right tackle. Anthonie Knapp is the only one of the freshmen who has practiced with the second team in fall camp, doing so at left tackle. The coaching staff appears to be very high on his potential, he's passed the eye test in the Blue-Gold Game and he's impressed whenever reporters have viewed practice. He's also grown to a not-unplayable 291 pounds. But is he ready to be the first option off the bench — or more than that, if Baker falters? Guerby Lambert — who worked as the third-team right tackle during the first few practices — at a mammoth 6-foot- 7, 318 pounds, is certainly ready to play from a physical standpoint. But during the first fall camp practice, he looked … like a summer-enrolling freshman in his first college practice. Could he be ready to go at some point this season? Sure, but the Irish don't want to force him into action before he's ready. The third-team left tackle, Styles Prescod, is considered a likely red- shirt. It's also worth noting that out of high school, many thought Knapp and Prescod would end up at guard. Another option is to move 6-foot-7, 321-pound sophomore Sullivan Absher back to tackle. He had been Jagusah's direct backup in spring ball, but he switched to guard this summer. "We've got to figure out, where does Sullivan Absher fit?" Freeman said at that late-May sit-down. "Where does Anthonie Knapp — where do some of these other guys that have a lot of tal- ent, where do they fit amongst and at what position? Maybe they're not in the first five, but they better be ready to go." Whichever direction the Irish go from here, Jagusah's injury severely damages an already shaky and extremely impor- tant position entering the 2024 season. It's not a death blow to Notre Dame's developing offense, but it's a significant setback. ✦ During practice Aug. 3, Jagusah (No. 56) injured his right shoulder and tore his right pectoral muscle. He was slated to undergo surgery in August and will be sidelined for the entire 2024 season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER