Charles Jagusah injury update: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman details OL's recovery progress

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman provided an injury update on redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Charles Jagusah on Thursday. Jagusah suffered an injury to his left upper arm in a utility-terrain vehicle (UTV) accident over the Fourth of July weekend.

“(He’ll) be back during the season,” Freeman told reporters in his post-practice news conference. “There’s not a hard date that this is the game (he’ll) be back. But (he’ll) be back this year.

“Charles just had a procedure to clean up and sew back his wound. We had to close up his wound. But that’s not going to delay his return more than a couple of days. It’s a progression, but we don’t want to put a timeline on it.

“We don’t want to put a timeline on it and say, ‘This is the exact game they’re going to be back’ because with rehabilitation, it can all change based on how they’re progressing.'”

In addition to providing an update on Jagusah’s injury, Freeman also shared his reaction once he heard the news earlier this month.

“My reaction was devastation for the young man,” Freeman said. “The first reaction isn’t, ‘The team — oh my gosh we just lost our starting right guard.’ It’s a care for that person that has gone through a lot. You talk about what he went through last year with his pec injury. Now, dealing with the arm fracture.

“Once I knew he was OK. I wanted to know what happened and how it happened. But it was a group of 10-15 players that were together. When I hear that, that’s what you want. They’re on a break and they’re together. … We preach unit strength and that’s unit strength. We got guys together hanging out.

“It was an unfortunate freak accident and a little bit of bad luck. But he’ll be fine, he’ll be good. I don’t want to ban them from having fun. I don’t want to do that. I want them to hang out together, have fun and become a team. Because that’s probably more important than anything else.”

Despite playing meaningful offensive snaps in only two games a year ago, Jagusah looked to enter the 2025 season as one of Notre Dame’s most dominant players. His performance in relief at right guard in the Orange Bowl against Penn State on Jan. 9 and starting at left tackle in the national championship game against Ohio State on 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 pectoral muscle on Aug. 6, during fall training 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 on 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 potentially out, fellow redshirt sophomore guard Sullivan Absher projects as the starter. Absher received first-team reps at right guard on Thursday.

Jagusah has generated considerable hype throughout the offseason. During spring practice, Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph proclaimed he can be one of the best guards in the country. And in late May, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman revealed that offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock compared him to No. 4 overall 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. And 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.”