Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 19, 2024 7 UNDER THE DOME UNDER THE DOME Big-Play Ability Makes It Boubacar Traore By Todd D. Burlage Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spent parts of last week chal- lenging some of his younger and unproven defensive linemen to step up their games to help fill the deep injury voids this unit has suffered this season. The most impactful player loss along the Irish defensive front was believed to have come during the Purdue game Sept. 14, when graduate student vyper Jordan Botelho was lost for the season with a knee injury. Nerves were immediately calmed against the Boilers when sophomore Boubacar Traore took over for Botelho and finished the game with 2 tackles, 1 sack, 1 quarterback hurry and his first ca- reer interception, which he returned 34 yards for a touchdown. A week later against Miami, Traore cemented himself as a valuable starter when he recorded 5 total stops, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble. Traore added another tackle for loss against Louisville before he tore the ACL in his left knee during the first half and was also lost for the season. Mainly serving in a backup role through five games, Traore still ranked first on the Irish when he was injured with 5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks, along with the 1 interception and 1 touchdown. "Next-man up" has always been the mantra for Freeman and his Irish. And that's the message he preached to his younger guys last week. But trying to replace a rising star and one of the defensive statistical leaders at a position already thinned out by injury makes Traore the worst player loss Notre Dame has suffered this season. Recency Bias Aside, It's Still Charles Jagusah By Jack Soble Of Notre Dame's in-season injuries, I would go with Traore as well, for all the reasons Todd laid out. He was turning into a dominant player off the edge, and it's imperative for the Irish that he's the same player in 2025. But the most damaging injury is still the one that occurred in fall camp. Notre Dame believed sophomore Charles Jagusah was its best offensive tackle entering the 2024 season. Given the solid play of junior Aamil Wagner on the right side, it's possible the Irish would have survived a year of turnover on the offensive line if Jagusah stayed healthy. He did not, suffering a torn pectoral mus- cle in early August. In his place, freshman Anthonie Knapp was thrust into an impossible position. A true fresh- man — who will likely end up at guard or center long-term — starting in his first college game at the most difficult position on the offensive line? Struggles were inevitable, and struggles have hap- pened. Knapp leads the Irish with 3 sacks and 11 total pressures allowed, and he gave up 1 and 3, respectively, in Notre Dame's Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois. None of this is Knapp's fault. He earned his spot on the depth chart, but circumstances put him into the lineup before he was ready. He had his best game in Week 5 against Louisville, so he's improving, and the Irish have every reason to believe he'll be a stud for them in the near future. However, when Jagusah went down, Notre Dame lost any chance it had to dominate up front. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHICH INJURY LOSS IS MOST DAMAGING TO NOTRE DAME? Big wins and bad losses, highlights and low moments, blame and praise, Irish sixth-year de- fensive lineman Howard Cross III has seen it all during his time at Notre Dame. A mainstay along the Irish defensive line for the last four-plus seasons — and one of the most experienced players in Notre Dame history with 58 games played — Cross earned multiple All- America honors in 2023 after a breakout season in which he recorded a career-high 66 stops with 7 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles. Those 66 stops last season ranked second among all Power Five front-four linemen and were the most for an Irish defensive tackle in 16 years. Named a 2024 preseason All-American by mul- tiple media outlets, Cross said he's ready for one final push on the campus he's called home since 2019. Blue & Gold Illustrated and other local media caught up with Cross before the Stanford game and asked him about his time at Notre Dame, the depth of this Irish defense, and how difficult it was to bounce back from the upset loss to Northern Illi- nois in Week 2 that seemingly squashed the Irish's College Football Playoff hopes in early September. BGI: Irish fans still talk about the loss to North- ern Illinois. How did the team get through that low point? Cross: "Anybody outside of these walls doesn't mean anything to us, I'm just being really hon- est. It's a team. We have to stay together, that's the whole thing. And after Northern Illinois, the entire world — rightfully so — was against us and our mentality was, 'Who cares?' We had to keep going. We had another game." BGI: What did you see the week that followed that showed you could move on and blow out Purdue? Cross: "For me, it was something I had been through here, unfortunately. I knew how to bounce back and we were seeing the guys being angry all week. That really made me happy, and it was like, 'All right, we're going to do really well this weekend [against Purdue].'" BGI: You've played with a sore hamstring this season. How beneficial was the bye week before Stanford? Cross: "I needed it. Everybody needed it. Every- body was tired a little bit, worn down. Going five straight weeks was exhausting, so it was good, glad we got it." BGI: The defense has suffered multiple injuries already this season, but some younger guys have admirably filled the voids. How has that hap- pened? Cross: "You have to be ready to be called, whenever. And, the guys that are up right now, balling out as freshmen, it goes to show that they knew, 'If I'm up, I'm up. It doesn't matter how many people are in front me of me.' And that is everybody's mentality." BGI: You've been here a long time. What has your time at Notre Dame meant to you? Cross: "It's meant a lot. Notre Dame has defi- nitely shaped who I am. I am thankful for that, on and off the field. It's meant a lot. I wouldn't have gone anywhere else." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … GRADUATE STUDENT DEFENSIVE LINEMAN HOWARD CROSS III Cross earned multiple All-America honors after a breakout year in 2023, during which he recorded a career-high 66 stops with 7 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Traore Jagusah