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Notre Dame OL Charles Jagusah suffers arm injury in UTV accident, undergoes surgery

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•07/06/25•

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Notre Dame guard Charles Jagusah. (Mike Miller, Blue & Gold)

For the second-straight year, Notre Dame redshirt sophomore guard Charles Jagusah has suffered a preseason injury that may cost him games. This one, however, occurred away from football activity.

Jagusah suffered an injury to his left upper arm in a utility-terrain vehicle (UTV) accident over Fourth of July weekend, Notre Dame announced and Blue & Gold‘s Eric Hansen can confirm. His recovery timeline has yet to be fully evaluated.

“Sophomore OL Charles Jagusah was injured in a UTV accident in Wyoming on July 5,” a statement from Fighting Irish Media, ND’s sports information arm, confirmed. “He has undergone surgery to repair a fracture of his left humerus. The initial prognosis is favorable, and he will return to campus early this week for further evaluation and continued care.”

Despite playing meaningful offensive snaps in only two games a year ago, Jagusah was set 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 will likely step into the starting lineup.

Jagusah has generated considerable hype throughout the offseason. During spring practice, Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph proclaiming 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.”

Notre Dame will have to make do without those qualities for the foreseeable future.

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