Notre Dame has lost another key defensive lineman to injury. Now the Fighting Irish will have to look for a replacement.
End [autotag]Boubacar Traore[/autotag] is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. The defensive end was injured in the first half of the Fighting Irish’s 31-24 win over the Louisville Cardinals. Traore had 11 tackles, five tackles for loss, and led the Irish with three sacks. He was also tied for second on the team for most quarterback pressures with eight — Howard Cross III has the most at 9.
With Traore joining Jordan Botelho on the injured list, who’s next?
[autotag]Junior Tuihalamaka[/autotag] seems the most likely replacement. Thus far the junior has seven tackles, two tackles for loss, and a half of a sack.
Freshman [autotag]Loghan Thomas[/autotag], who played 14 snaps versus Louisville, seems likely to see a lot more action.
Head coach Marcus Freeman also pointed to Josh Burnham, who is returning from injury, RJ Oben, and Bryce Young, as possible replacements.
“Josh is a guy that could play either field end or Vyper for us. RJ Oben and Bryce Young, obviously, have done a good job at the field end position, and Junior has done a really good job stepping up at the Vyper position, as well as Loghan Thomas getting some reps,” Freeman said. “And so you have five quality individuals that can play the end position for us. And we’ve got to have guys step up, just like Junior has done. And I’m confident that if something would happen again that we’ll have to have another guy step up.”
Vyper is another term for rush end.
Burnham and Young each have four tackles and 1 quarterback hit, and Young has blocked a kick on special teams. Thomas has one tackle and 1 quarterback hit, while Oben has eight tackles — four solo and four assisted.
Based on Freeman’s quote, Tuihalamaka seems likeliest to have the most impact with Traore out, with Burnham and Thomas following. Oben and and Young seem more likely to see most of their reps at field end.
Either way, Traore’s loss is a tough pill to swallow for the Irish.
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