Notre Dame injury updates: Marcus Freeman identifies players questionable for Stanford game

Notre Dame has several players banged up entering Saturday’s game against rival Stanford. Head coach Marcus Freeman shared where things stand for the Irish from an injury standpoint on Monday.

Defensive lineman Boubacar Traore is out for the year with a torn ACL, according to Freeman. He had 11 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and a pick-six for Notre Dame on the season. Traore has appeared in all five games.

As for the questionable players for the Stanford game, Freeman also provided updates on them.

“Questionable for the upcoming game is Cooper Flanagan with a foot, Gabriel Rubio with his foot. He’s feeling good, but his role is still to be determined. So he’s questionable for this game. And then Billy Schrauth with his foot is still questionable for this game,” Marcus Freeman said.

Tight end Cooper Flanagan has appeared in four games this year. He has three catches for 53 yards and a touchdown for the Irish. Defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio has yet to receive any action this year after playing in nine games for Notre Dame last season. Billy Schrauth is an offensive lineman who started the first three games of 2024 for the Irish.

Marcus Freeman also provided an update on Notre Dame players expected to play.

“Probable, expected to play, would be Jordan Faison and his ankle, Josh Burnham and Christian Gray.

Faison is a sophomore receiver who has four catches for 29 yards through three games for Notre Dame this season. Burnham is a defensive lineman with 4 tackles and 1 tackles for loss in three games. Gray is a cornerback with 6 tackles, 4 pass breakups and an interception through four games for Notre Dame this season.

Finally, Marcus Freeman provided a few more injury updates on Irish players.

“A couple of other updates, Sam Pendleton will be full go. Ended up having a concussion late in the game vs. Louisville, but he’s back and expected to go,” Freeman said.

The offensive lineman has started all five games for the Irish this season.

“Ashton Craig had surgery on Friday with Dr. Ratigan to repair his ACL,” Freeman said.

Craig started the first three games of the season for Notre Dame before being lost for the year due to an injury in the win over Purdue.

“[Tae] Johnson, in return to participation phase but still a few weeks away from being able to help our team,” Freeman said.

Johnson is a freshman safety who was a four-star recruit out of high school.

“And then CJ Carr, he was injured in practice a couple of weeks ago and had just some elbow soreness,” Freeman explained. “So really just trying to focus on some other areas of improvement for him as he goes through rehab. But other than that no other injuries.”

Carr is a freshman quarterback who saw action in Notre Dame’s win over Purdue.