Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 28, 2024 7 UNDER THE DOME This was always going to be a make- shift, hodgepodge cornucopia collec- tion of players along the Notre Dame offensive line after losing 60 percent of last season's regular starters, though. But that still doesn't mean it can't be a good offensive line, as evidenced by strong showings here and there in the first three weeks of the season, and Coogan and Spindler carrying that on in a half and change at Purdue. The reality is Notre Dame is an injury to junior right tackle Aamil Wagner away from book-ending the offensive line with true freshmen. Summer enrollee Guerby Lambert is Wagner's backup. Sophomore Chris Terek is backing up Spindler. Lambert and Terek both played against Purdue, and played well accord- ing to Freeman. That's also reality. Notre Dame is comfortably at a place where when one or two guys go out, one or two capable guys come in. That's the way it should be at a place that has a case for being "O-Line U." "You hate to lose Ashton for the year and Billy for a couple of weeks, but, man, I have a lot of confidence in the depth of our offensive line," Freeman said. D-LINE MUSICAL CHAIRS Jordan Botelho had finally figured it out, only to have his breakout season taken away from him in Week 3. The graduate student vyper is out for the year with a knee injury, which he suffered while turning the corner to- ward Purdue quarterback Hudson Card after toasting the Boilermakers' right tackle. He was on pace to soar past his career highs in quarterback pressures and defensive stops, earning the team's defensive player of the week award for his effort in West Lafayette, Ind. Losing Botelho makes a "huge im- pact," Freeman said Sept. 16. But he likes the players who will step up in his place. "Jordan Botelho's a great player who was playing his best ball since I've been here," Freeman said. "You feel awful for him, but you have to continue to move forward, right? That's why you have depth. You have guys that are prepared and ready to step up." Sophomore Boubacar Traore will step into the starting lineup at vyper, and he had the best game of his young and extremely promising career in Week 3. Traore finished the Purdue game with 2 tackles for loss, a sack and an inter- ception that he returned 34 yards for a touchdown. Freeman said after the game that Traore is a good player right now, but he'll be a great player before Notre Dame knows it. The Irish had been heavily rotating him early this season, with 77 snaps in the first three games. Traore is the future of the vyper position, and af- ter Botelho's injury, he's now the present. "Man, he's gotten better and better," Freeman said. "He's got a lot of ability. I just love the way he works in practice. He loves practice, and he did a good job today." Behind Traore, Junior Tuihalamaka — a junior — will be the second-string vyper. Tuihalamaka was a rotational staple in 2023. While he's still a key player on special teams, he lost his defensive role to Traore in the early going. Fresh- man vyper Loghan Thomas could also see some action, having played special teams in the first three games as well. "[Thomas] did a good job with the reps that he got [at Purdue]," Freeman said. "It was really good to see some twos and threes get valuable, meaning- ful reps versus a Big Ten opponent." Junior strong-side defensive end Joshua Burnham missed Week 3 with an ankle injury, meanwhile. He played 53 snaps in Week 2 against NIU, suffering the injury on No. 53. He did not start, but the Irish effectively benched gradu- ate student RJ Oben for poor perfor- mance. If his ailment lingers on longer, a youth movement will continue behind — or in front of — Oben. Oben played 18 snaps against Purdue, with Traore helping out at strong-side defensive end in Burnham's absence. Bryce Young — a 6-foot-7, 258-pound freshman — played a career-high 21 snaps against the Boilermakers. He totaled 2 pressures, including a quarterback hit. "Bryce Young played really well," Freeman said. "He's a guy that's dif- ferent, man. He's gonna continue to get more playing time." Young and Traore have the talent to be one of college football's top edge rusher pairings in 2025 or 2026. Notre Dame will find itself relying on them more than it expected to in 2024. ✦ UNDER THE DOME Sophomore Boubacar Traore will step into the starting lineup at vyper, after graduate student Jordan Botelho went down with a season-ending knee injury at Purdue. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER