Notre Dame football delivers some bad news to kick off spring practice that unfortunately has become a consistent issue 

With Notre Dame football opening up spring practice on Friday, there is a lot of excitement and optimism in the air. Head coach Marcus Freeman, athletic director of sports medicine Rob Hunt, and director of football performance Loren Landow were available to the media to answer questions. Each gave some tremendous insight about this 2026 Fighting Irish team. 

After Landow kicked things off, Hunt followed to give everyone an update on several injuries that the team is dealing with. That included a tough update on projected starting offensive guard Charles Jagusah, a player who has dealt with a series of injuries since he got to South Bend. Most recently, he missed the 2025 season while dealing with a broken left humerus. 

According to Hunt, Jagusah will have a fifth surgery on Wednesday for that aforementioned humerus injury. There is hope that this will allow him to fully heal. With that impending procedure, there is no timeline for a recovery. 

The talent for Jagusah has never been in question, having legitimate NFL upside. The lack of availability, however, is threatening to derail his entire Notre Dame career. This is not the injury news that anyone wanted to receive. 

Charles Jagusah’s career background 

Jagusah was considered to be a consensus top-100 player when he came out of the 2023 recruiting class. A star at Rock Island (Ill.) Alleman, Jagusah finished rated as the No. 62 overall player, the No. 7 offensive tackle, and the No. 1 player from the state of Illinois for the 2023 class. 

The 6-7, 325-pound behemoth was considered to be a massive victory for the Fighting Irish at the time. Notre Dame was able to win over an offer list that included Michigan, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Auburn, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Iowa State, Illinois, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, and West Virginia, among others. 

During his freshman season in 2023, Jagusah played in just two games after recovering from a preseason knee injury. That included starting in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State. He was projected to start the next year at left tackle, but injured his pectoral in the preseason. He returned for the final three games of the season, including starting the national championship against Ohio State. 

For the second straight year, Jagusah was supposed to start on the Notre Dame offensive line this past season. The Illinois native suffered a broken left humerus, which knocked him out for the entirety of the 2025 season.