No. 11 Notre Dame has lost another lineman to injury for the rest of the season.
Defensive end Boubacar Traore will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, head coach Marcus Freeman announced Monday. Traore suffered the injury during the first half of Notre Dame’s Week 5 31-24 win over Louisville.
The redshirt freshman led the Fighting Irish with three sacks and five tackles for loss (with 11 total tackles) in five games from his defensive end position. He also returned an interception for a touchdown in the 66-7 Week 3 win over Purdue.
Traore, a four-star recruit in the 2023 recruiting class, moved into Notre Dame’s starting lineup when senior defensive end Jordan Botelho injured his right knee against Purdue.
The Irish also lost starting center Ashton Craig in the game against the Boilermakers. At his press conference on Monday, Freeman said Craig had undergone surgery to repair his left cruciate ligament.
Junior Tuihalamaka is expected to take Traore’s place in the defense. The junior linebacker has seven tackles, half a sack and two tackles for loss this season.
Notre Dame (4-1) will host Stanford (2-3) on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 PM ET.
