Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1532365
34 MARCH 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED The absurdity of the Jagusah tidbit? He was involved in the 15th injury incident to a starter. On the same play Leonard hit his head and had to be removed against Penn State to test for a possible concus- sion, right guard Rocco Spindler turned his ankle. He left the game and did not return, unlike Leonard, who was back on the field for the second half. It was Jag- usah who was on the field at the end of the first half and beyond in place of Spindler. It gets even crazier. Before Spindler went out, left tackle Anthonie Knapp did. Jagusah could have come full circle and filled in for him had he not been repping at right guard in prac- tices to provide a solid backup plan for Spindler, who'd been dealing with his an- kle ailment for a while. So Tosh Baker, the graduate student who was edged out for the spot in fall camp by Knapp in the wake of Jagusah's absence, filled in for Knapp. Talk about musical offensive line chairs. "We all have confidence in each other," Jagusah said. "It was the same thing when Knapp went down. I knew Tosh was go- ing to do a great job. It's just about the confidence in yourself and the confidence everyone else in the room has in you." It's not just the offensive line, though. It happened along the defensive line, as well. Defensive end Jordan Botelho played the best 10 quarters of football of his career before blowing out his knee at Purdue in Week 3. Boubacar Traore, a talented young sophomore, replaced him. Two weeks later, he tore his ACL at home against Louisville. Defensive tackle Rylie Mills led all Notre Dame defensive players in sacks (7.5) go- ing into the national championship game despite not being able to play in the Sugar Bowl or Orange Bowl. His knee gave out in the first round against Indiana. Fellow D-tackle Howard Cross III missed three games with a severe ankle sprain. All-America cornerback Benja- min Morrison had season-ending hip surgery in October. Heck, even place- kicker Mitch Jeter missed a few games with a groin issue that impacted his productivity upon his return. He went more than a month without seeing a ball go off his foot and through the uprights on a field goal attempt in a game, but somehow magically returned to form in the CFP, making 7 of 8 kicks in the first three games of the playoff. Magic. This Notre Dame team has it. The Irish wouldn't have overcome all of those injuries without at least a little. Sure feels like a lot. "We've been doing this all year long together," Jagusah said. "And we all know what we're capable of." AL GOLDEN'S DEFENSE A 2024 Notre Dame beat writer pas- time as common as Mass on Sunday morning — checking the Fighting Irish's defensive statistics after every game. Al Golden had Notre Dame's defense at the top of many of the categories through- out the whole season. That hadn't changed entering the na- tional championship game, either. Scor- ing defense? No. 4, with an average of 15.5 points allowed per game. Passing defense? Same thing — No. 4, with an average of 169.4 yards allowed per contest. The Irish were No. 11 in total defense, with an aver- age of 307.4 yards allowed per game. It's the nitty gritty metrics that made Notre Dame's defense so good this season. Nobody turned teams over like the Irish did. Notre Dame finished the season with a season-high 33 takeaways. The only other team in college football with 30- plus was Texas. Notre Dame also had the 12th-best opponent third-down conver- sion percentage (32.3). The Irish were also ninth in fourth-down defense with an opponent conversion percentage of 36.6. Golden is obviously a mastermind. He's got an answer for everything. He'll have you know, though, that the an- swer is not concocted on his own. How could it be? He's not the one on the field making plays. He's got 11 guys at a time to do it for him. Eleven guys willing to respond to him and do whatever's nec- essary to make him look good. Golden gives to them. They give back to him. "I love sharing," Golden said. "I feel like I have a wealth of experience, and I've crossed over into that wisdom phase in my life now, and I can share. And so, I love sharing with them and the experiences." So p h o m o re sa fe ty Ad o n S h u l e r NEXT MAN UP By Blue & Gold Illustrated's count, Notre Dame overcame 16 injuries to players that served as a starter at some point during the course of the season. Six of those injuries were season ending. A few lasted several weeks. One only lasted one drive, but it was arguably the most important drive of the season. Here's a look back at every injury that forced a Notre Dame starter to miss time, listed in chronological order: 1. Left tackle: Anthonie Knapp replaces Charles Jagusah (right pectoral, 14 games missed) in training camp 2. Kris Mitchell replaces Jordan Faison (ankle, 3 plus parts of 2 others) at field receiver at Texas A&M and vs. Louisville 3. Rocco Spindler replaces Billy Schrauth (high-ankle sprain, 4) at right guard at Purdue 4. Boubacar Traore replaces Jordan Botelho* (knee, 13) at vyper at Purdue 5. Pat Coogan replaces Ashton Craig* (knee, 13) at center at Purdue 6. Leonard Moore replaces Christian Gray (shoulder, 1) at field cornerback vs. Louisville 7. Junior Tuihalamaka replaces Boubacar Traore* vs. Louisville (knee, 11) at vyper 8. Zac Yoakam replaces Mitch Jeter (groin, 2) at kicker vs. Stanford 9. Leonard Moore replaces Benjamin Morrison* (hip, 10) at boundary cornerback vs. Stanford 10. Donovan Hinish replaces Howard Cross III (high-ankle sprain, 3) at nose tackle vs. Florida State 11. Jadarian Price replaces Jeremiyah Love (knee, parts of 2) at running back at USC and vs. Georgia 12. Gabriel Rubio replaces Rylie Mills* (knee, 3) at defensive tackle vs. Indiana 13. Jayden Thomas replaces Beaux Collins (calf strain, part of 1) at boundary receiver vs. Penn State 14. Tosh Baker replaces Anthonie Knapp* (high-ankle sprain, 1+) at left tackle vs. Penn State 15. Charles Jagusah replaces Rocco Spindler (ankle, parts of 1) at right guard vs. Penn State 16. Steve Angeli replaces Riley Leonard (concussion protocol, 1 drive) at quarterback vs. Penn State * Season ending — Jack Soble "Honestly, every single week, it didn't matter who we played — I was convinced that they were the best team in America that week. Every single game. I remember Army and Navy, our coaches had me scared to death. I was like, 'Bro, these dudes are amazing.' Every game. It didn't matter who it was." SENIOR QUARTERBACK RILEY LEONARD ON HIS MINDSET AFTER THE NIU LOSS