Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546068
78 PRESEASON 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED I f Charles Jagusah's college football career had played out the way his recruiting rankings suggested that it could, there's a plausible scenario in which the redshirt junior offensive lineman's time in a Notre Dame uniform would already be over. And the 6-foot-5, 330-pounder would be competing for a start- ing spot in an NFL training camp somewhere, as a successful three- and-out draft early entry. Instead, he'll be trying to push the possibility of becoming one of college football's great comeback stories in 2026 while he contin- ues to work toward transcending a third serious injury during his college career that encompasses all of three games and five incon- sequential plays in a fourth. "I do believe he will play for us at some point," Irish fifth-year head coach Marcus Freeman told a small group of reporters July 21 in his annual sit-down with the Notre Dame core beat media. "I don't know when. Actually, if you asked me to bet, I would hope it's this season at some point. "I don't know, though. That's all going to be how his arm continues to strengthen. But there's positive signs. There's very positive signs." And there finally has been a long stretch of those since mid-March, when the Rock Island, Ill., native underwent his sixth surgery in an eight-and-a- half-month span following a broken left humerus. Jagusah suffered the injury in 2025 on the Fourth of July weekend in a UTV incident while hanging out with teammates in Wyoming. He was projected as Notre Dame's starting right offensive guard for the 2025 season at the time of the mishap and still is widely considered the Irish lineman with the highest potential — if/ when he returns to playing football. And yet Notre Dame training camp was set to kick off Aug. 6, with the former five-star prospect still on the sidelines, but with real momentum for a return. "He's just continuing to rehab and trying to work on strength," Freeman said. "When you're dealing with nerves, you've just got to let Mother Nature take its course. You've got to let science fig- ure itself out." According to a source, there's less concern about when the nerve com- pletely regenerates and more about the timetable it will take to build back the strength in Jagusah's upper body to the level he was at in the summer of 2025. "There's two parts to this," the source said. "One is, thank God he's healing. The second part is there's still a lot of work to do. But here's the bottom line. The program is in a position where they don't have to count on him coming back. The guys they have now are that good. "But if he comes back at some point this season, he brings depth at a mini- mum and possibly a lot more." And if Jagusah doesn't come back this season, his comeback-in-progress still has inspirational value. Imagine hav- ing a bad day and then looking over at your teammate with an uncertain future while putting in the work as if Notre Dame's bottom line depended on it. That has been who Jagusah has been all along. When former Irish offensive line coach Harry Hiestand went to Alleman High to take in a practice during Jagusah's recruitment, he thought he had mistakenly stum- bled into an outdoor gym class at the longtime struggling program. Both from a physical size and ros- ter count standpoint. In fact, since Jagusah's senior season, in which he played half of it with two knee ligament tears, Al- leman has won a total of one game and actually scratched playing any varsity games in 2023 and 2024 due to low interest and turnout. Yet, as Hiestand can attest, when rival high schools tried to recruit Jagusah out of Alleman High, he refused to quit on his teammates. And he refuses to quit on himself now. If he never plays another down for the Irish, that's still a powerful mes- sage to have in your building every day. Injuries have dominated Jagusah's ca- reer to date, though when he has played, he's flashed his elite pedigree. The last two instances came during Notre Dame's final two playoff games of the 2024 season, in January of 2025. He was plugged in as an injury replacement at right guard for Notre Dame's CFP semi- final victory over Penn State and at left tackle for the title game against Ohio State on Jan. 20, 2025. "Charles is a strong-minded guy," Notre Dame associate athletics direc- tor of sports medicine Rob Hunt said back in March. "He's been through a lot. He's had some low times. When you think you're moving forward and you're where you want to be and then you have a setback, that's hard to take on. "He's relied on his teammates and his coaches. Our sports psychologist has worked really well with him, and it's been beneficial. The growth is in the heart, and Charles is definitely equipped to handle that and has done a really good job managing those emo- tions and that bumpy road." ✦ Injuries have limited Jagusah to action in only four games in his three seasons with the Irish. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Charles Jagusah's Comeback Matters To Notre Dame Eric Hansen covers Notre Dame athletics for On3, with a focus on Irish football. He can be reached on X @ EHansenND THE DEEP READ ERIC HANSEN