Notre Dame defensive end Boubacar Traore out for year with knee injury
For the second time this season, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman had to announce the season-ending injury of his starting vyper defensive end. Sophomore Boubacar Traore injured his left knee against Louisville in Week 5. Just like graduate senior Jordan Botelho, the ailment is significant enough to sideline Traore for the season.
Botelho and Traore were Notre Dame’s one-two punch at the rush end spot for the first two and a half games of the season. The former injured his knee in Week 3 at Purdue. He had to be carted off the field, and two days later Freeman told reporters Botelho was out for the year.
Traore wasn’t carted off the field, but he sat on the bench with a heavy wrap on his knee after going down vs. the Cardinals. It didn’t look good for him in the moment, and nine days later the Fighting Irish’s injury report confirmed what was feared by many. Notre Dame’s sack leader through five games won’t see the field again until sometime in 2025.
Per Pro Football Focus, Traore is tied for second among all Notre Dame defensive players in quarterback pressures. He has 8 along with defensive tackles Rylie Mills and Jason Onye. Fellow defensive tackle Howard Cross III leads the team with 9.
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Traore always seemed to show up in a positive way for the Irish in the first five games of his second season in South Bend. He returned an interception for a touchdown late in the first half against Purdue to put Notre Dame ahead 35-0 and effectively end the game. He had a tackle for loss to set the Cardinals behind the chains in the first quarter two weeks ago before he suffered his injury.
Notre Dame will turn to junior Junior Tuihalamaka as its No. 1 vyper without Botelho and Traore in the mix. Freshman Loghan Thomas all of a sudden gets a big boost up the depth chart. A special teams staple, Thomas has already burned his redshirt in his first collegiate season. Now Notre Dame has ever reason to give him a significant share of defensive snaps. He played 14 against Louisville.
Tuihalamaka, meanwhile, played a career-high 48 defensive snaps against the Cards one week after he posted the highest PFF game grade of his career in Notre Dame’s win of Miami (Ohio). He’s going to have to keep stepping up in that way for the Irish moving forward at a very depleted position.
