Notre Dame loses edge rusher Boubacar Traore for season with left knee injury

No. 11 Notre Dame has lost another lineman to injury for the remainder of the season.

Defensive end Boubacar Traore will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, head coach Marcus Freeman announced on Monday. Traore suffered the injury during the first half of Notre Dame’s 31–24 Week 5 win over Louisville.

The redshirt freshman led the Fighting Irish with three sacks and five tackles for loss (with 11 tackles overall) in five games from the Vyper defensive end position. He also returned an interception for a touchdown in Week 3’s 66–7 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. He had to be carted off the field after leaving the game.

The Irish also lost starting center Ashton Craig in the matchup with the Boilermakers. At his Monday press conference, Freeman said Craig had surgery to repair his left ACL.

Junior Tuihalamaka is expected to take Traore’s spot at defensive end. The junior linebacker has seven tackles, a half-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 p.m. ET.