Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2025 17 BY JACK SOBLE F or the second straight year, Notre Dame junior guard Charles Ja- gusah has suffered a preseason injury that will likely cost him games. This one, however, occurred away from football activity. Jagusah suffered an injury to his left upper arm in a utility-terrain vehicle (UTV) accident July 5, Notre Dame an- nounced. As of July 29, no official time- line had been given for his return. "Sophomore OL Charles Jagusah was injured in a UTV accident in Wyoming on July 5," a statement from Fighting Irish Media, Notre Dame's sports infor- mation arm, confirmed on the morning of July 6. "He has undergone surgery to repair a fracture of his left humerus [the long bone in the upper arm, extending from the shoulder to the elbow]. The initial prognosis is favorable, and he will return to campus early this week for further evaluation and continued care." Despite playing meaningful offensive snaps in only two games a year ago, Ja- gusah was set to enter the 2025 season as one of Notre Dame's most dominant players. His performance in relief at right guard against Penn State in the Orange Bowl Jan. 9 and starting at left tackle against Ohio State in the national championship game Jan. 20 had the Irish ecstatic about his potential. Jagusah would have begun the 2024 season as Notre Dame's starting left tackle, but he tore his right pecto- ral muscle Aug. 6 during last year's fall camp. Then-true freshman Anthonie Knapp replaced him and started the next 15 games, while Jagusah was not available to play until the Sugar Bowl Jan. 2. This year, during spring practice, the Rock Island (Ill.) Alleman product settled in at right guard and was set to start there to begin the regular season. With Jagusah out of commission, fellow junior guard Sullivan Absher will likely be first in line to replace him. Despite his lack of game experience, Jagusah generated considerable hype throughout the offseason. In March, Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph proclaimed he could be one of the best guards in the country. And in late May, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman revealed that offensive coor- dinator Mike Denbrock compared him favorably to No. 4 overall NFL Draft pick Will Campbell, whom the veteran play- caller coached at LSU. "Both of them are kind of like, 'You can't fool me more than once' type of guys," Denbrock said June 10. "So, they may make a mistake on a play, but you're not gonna get 'em twice. They never make the same mistake twice, and they have the ability to make sure that they correct whatever needs correcting, and it happens between reps. Those are unique qualities to have." Notre Dame will have to make do without those qualities for the foresee- able future. UNNECESSARY SETBACK Many NFL contracts, according to a 2024 ESPN story, prohibit players from participating in potentially dangerous non-football activities. They can prohibit all sorts of things, as the article detailed, from rock climb- ing to skiing to riding a jet ski to even playing basketball. Doing so can result in guaranteed money being voided, and that has happened. The Seattle Se- ahawks, for instance, sued 2017 second- round draft pick Malik McDowell and recouped almost $800,000 of his $3.19 million signing bonus after he suffered a concussion in an all-terrain vehicle accident before his first training camp. As college football looks more and more like the NFL every day, logic dictates that those types of clauses should appear in players' revenue-share agreements. If they're not in there already, they almost certainly will be after Jagusah's injury. It is gut-wrenching news for Jagusah, who has had terrible injury luck since he signed with Notre Dame. But this time, he shoulders a portion of the blame. UTVs (also known as side-by-sides, built for multiple passengers and outdoor tasks, driven with a steering wheel like a car) are different from the more commonly- known ATVs (typically for recreational use, built for one rider, steered with han- dlebars), but they are still dangerous — particularly if driven recklessly. The details surrounding the accident are unknown, which will likely remain the case until if and when Jagusah de- cides to share them. Per multiple re- ports, he was part of a group trip hosted by junior safety Luke Talich (who lives in Cody, Wyo.) with several other team- mates. It's possible that all made a reck- less decision and Jagusah was the only one who paid for it. But by hopping in a UTV, Jagusah put himself in harm's way. He jeopardized his short- and long-term future, and the most important part of this story is that he did not injure more than his arm. The impact of losing Jagusah, while it won't cripple what should still be a very good offensive line, is profound. Without him, the Irish are not nearly as imposing up front. Absher is more than capable of filling in, but Jagusah is a true differ- ence-maker. He's the rare offensive line- man who stands out to untrained eyes. The most perplexing part of this story (and frustrating, if you're Freeman) is that Jagusah is generally straight as an arrow. To BGI's knowledge, he has never been in trouble off the field. He is an ex- tremely intelligent football player. He is one of the last players the Irish would ex- pect to be involved in a situation like this. This is a different situation than it would have been five years ago, when each player was a student-athlete on scholar- ship. The Irish are paying Jagusah a great deal of money to be healthy enough to play football and help them win games. He can now do neither for the foreseeable future. In May 2024, Freeman was asked if he had a specific set of rules for his players regarding off-the-field activities. He does not, but he does have one baseline expectation. "I think you can set yourself up for failure when you write out, 'Here's our 10 rules that we have,'" Freeman said. "I know that's a little bit old-school. Probably [the only] rule is use common sense, right? Use common sense." Jagusah is a great kid. He will be back, and he will help the Irish. But a season that brimmed (and still brims) with po- tential is off to an unnecessarily frus- trating start. ✦ "Both of them are kind of like, 'You can't fool me more than once' type of guys. … They never make the same mistake twice." OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE DENBROCK, COMPARING JAGUSAH TO NO. 4 OVERALL NFL DRAFT PICK WILL CAMPBELL, WHOM HE COACHED AT LSU