Notre Dame football injury updates: Marcus Freeman reveals status of multiple players after spring game

Going into the 2025 season, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is hoping to avoid dealing with as many injuries as his Irish team had to deal with in 2024. Still, as spring practice wraps up, he’s dealing with several injuries.

In a recent injury update, Freeman shared the status of several players. That included several positive updates, beginning with defensive lineman Brenan Vernon, who missed the spring game with an MCL injury but should return by this summer for the Irish.

“I know I said Brenan Vernon didn’t play in the spring game,” Marcus Freeman said. “He ended up having MCL surgery. He’ll be out for a little bit, but he’ll be back by July.”

From there, Marcus Freeman turned his attention to another group that is going to be able to participate fully this summer. That included a couple of other players for Notre Dame who aren’t quite ready to return to full activity yet, but Notre Dame expects to be back relatively soon.

“Boubacar Traore, Kahanu Kia, Ashton Craig, Jordan Botelho will all be able to participate full-go here in the summer. Guerby Lambert and Davion Dixon will continue to work into full training activities during the summer as they return from surgery.”

Traore, Kia, Craig, and Botelho are all coming off torn ACLs. Those injuries were part of the long list that stacked up against the Irish last season.

Marcus Freeman shared that only one player won’t be full-go this summer. That’s tight end Cooper Flanagan. He suffered a torn Achilles in the Sugar Bowl that required surgery. The hope is for Flanagan, who played in 26 games and has three touchdown receptions through his first two college seasons, to take a step forward and become a key piece of the offense.

“The only player that we don’t anticipate being truly full-go in the summer, will take a little bit more time into the fall, and fall camp will be Cooper Flanagan,” Freeman said. “He’s still recovering from and rehabbing from surgery that he had at the end of last season.”

All in all, Notre Dame finds itself in relatively good health following the 35-day spring practice window. The majority of injured players are either already back or will be before summer. So, the Irish and Freeman will hope to keep that rolling into the 2025 season.

Marcus Freeman admits Tyler Buchner move back to quarterback is ‘under consideration’

As Notre Dame works to figure out its 2025 roster, one interesting option is on the table for Marcus Freeman. He could return Tyler Buchner to quarterback, which is something he has already admitted to considering.

“Yeah, it’s something we’ve discussed,” Freeman said. “We’ll look at the total number of arms, bodies that have to practice [with], but it’s definitely under consideration to be able to move Tyler back into the quarterback room as we look into Summer and Fall camp.”