Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 19, 2026 19 before starting at left tackle in the Sun Bowl. His third blast of adversity came during Fourth of July weekend in 2025, when he suffered the broken upper left arm in a UTV accident in Wyoming dur- ing a break in summer workouts. "The mental strain while you're recov- ering and your body not doing what it is you know it can do is among the most frustrating and infuriating and depress- ing things for me," Taylor said of his ex- perience. "There's still times where I'll tweak my back when I'm working out — and I'm 53. And I've got to really fight de- pression because it kickstarts memories of when I got hurt and couldn't do things that I wanted to do. And all that emotion comes flooding back, man. "Our brains, unfortunately, are really good at remembering the bad, but really bad at remembering the good. Like, I have to fight it. So, anytime a guy goes down, I always try to take him under- neath my wing. I haven't done that with [Jagusah yet], but if they ask, I will." FINDING THE 'YES' Notre Dame's weekly injury/availabil- ity report includes two classifications for unavailable players — out for the next game and out for the season. No Irish player has landed in the "out for the sea- son" bucket, including Jagusah. Back in the spring, both associate athletic director of sports medicine Rob Hunt and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph expressed their belief Jag- usah's return to play for Notre Dame at some juncture was a matter of "when" and not "if." That belief came after six surgeries in the first eight and a half months on his road back. "He's got a vision, and he's got his journey," Rudolph said back in the spring. "When coach Free gets up and he speaks about the bumpy road, we talk to Charles. Like, 'Charles, this is going to be your bumpy road. This is going to be your story. This is what's going to make you different than anyone else in this world. You're going to be able to tell this story about what you overcame, what you went through, and who you became.' "And Charles knows that, and he un- derstands that. And he's put work into that every day." Freeman sees that work every day. He talks with Jagusah during practice while the 6-foot-5, 330-pound former five-star prospect warms up alongside his teammates, albeit without pads or a helmet. And Freeman, too, believes Jagusah will help Notre Dame again at some point, even if the world around them might not be convinced. "Honestly, Charles couldn't care less if people give up on him or not," Taylor said. "What's most important is if he hasn't given up on himself. I'm not suggesting that Marcus and Joe and crew have done this — coaches, they've got to look at their roster. All they want to know is who they can count on, who they can trust. "The most important ability is avail- ability. And as much as Charles is liked and as good as he is, the impact that he made in the playoff [in 2024], none of that [stuff] matters if you can't count on him to be there and be at his best when it's needed. And that's just the reality of it. "So, what's most important in those situations for Charles — and he's doing this — is to find the 'yes.' There's a lot of 'no' that he can't do and hasn't been able to do, but there's always going to be a 'yes.' And that day that I was at prac- tice, his 'yes' was coaching the young guys and staying mentally involved. "Sounds like his 'yes' now is being at practice, stretching, doing some drills, figuring things out. I don't know what his 'yes' is going to be by the end of the season. But my guess is he'll do every- thing he can, and it'll be the highest possible [level] that it could have been. "And I hope to God he can figure it out and the good football gods up there can keep him healthy, because he makes us better." ✦ Taylor missed his rookie season with the Green Bay Packers due to a ruptured patellar tendon and suf- fered a second ruptured patellar tendon in Year 2 during the playoffs, so he understands what Jagusah is going through. PHOTO COURTESY GREEN BAY PACKERS "I don't know what his 'yes' is going to be by the end of the sea- son. But my guess is he'll do everything he can, and it'll be the highest possible [level] that it could have been. And I hope to God he can figure it out and the good football gods up there can keep him healthy, because he makes us better." TAYLOR ON JAGUSAH AND HIS JOURNEY BACK TO PLAYING AGAIN