On Thursday, the Notre Dame football team announced they would be without three players for their first game of the season against Texas A&M on Saturday night. Two of the players are expected to miss the entire 2024 season.
Notre Dame football lost an important player in camp
The Irish had troubling injury news out of camp when they announced starting left tackle Charles Jagusah would miss the 2024 season with a torn ACL. Notre Dame will start true freshman Anthonie Knapp in place of Jagusah. The young offensive line will face a tough test against Texas A&M’s elite defensive line.
Irish announce three more players will miss the Texas A&M game
Per a statement by the Irish’s PR Team, Notre Dame will be without three freshmen against Texas A&M. Safety Taebron Bennie-Powell underwent surgery on his left shoulder labrum. He is expected to miss the season.
Offensive lineman Styles Prescod suffered a right shoulder injury. He is scheduled to have surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Safety Tae Johnson had surgery on his left fifth metatarsal—the Irish hope he can return to play this season but will miss Saturday night’s game.
Notre Dame will go into Saturday night’s game as the underdog
Per Tim Casey with Forbes, Notre Dame will come into Saturday night’s game as underdogs to Texas A&M. They need to make the most of the game for the College Football Playoff hunt because the Irish don’t face many more Top-25 teams on their schedule:
Despite their higher ranking, the Fighting Irish are slight underdogs because they’re playing on the road, but it would not be surprising if they win. If that happens, it could be the start of a special season for Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish face only two other opponents (No. 10 Florida State and No. 23 USC) who were ranked in the Associated Press’s preseason top 25. The Seminoles lost their opener last weekend to Georgia Tech.
Losing three freshmen isn’t the end of the world for Saturday night’s game. Notre Dame has substantial safety depth this season and will start one of the best defensive backs in the nation with Xavier Watts.
Still, losing two freshmen for the season isn’t ideal for their development before 2025.
Related: Texas A&M loses offensive weapon for 2024 season
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