That a key piece of the seemingly ever-changing, definitely-evolving Notre Dame offensive line may actually play for the first time in a game since the tail end of the 2023 season, sophomore Charles Jagusah, is hardly mind-blowing for Irish O-line coach Joe Rudolph.
Nor is once-questionable starting right offensive guard Rocco Spindler on Monday proclaiming himself and his recovering right ankle ready to roll into Wednesday night’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal showdown between the seventh-seeded Irish (11-2) and 2 seed Georgia (12-1) in New Orleans. (UPDATE: The game has been postponed to Thursday.)
It’s become business as usual.
And one of the most satisfying developments that the 52-year-old Rudolph has experienced during his college coaching career that’s spanned 21 years.
“I feel good,” Spindler said of the latest personnel twist. “I’m ready to go, and I trust myself and I trust my mindset and I trust my ankle.”
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TV start time on ESPN Wednesday is 8:45 p.m. EST at the Caesars Superdome in a game branded as the Sugar Bowl, with the Irish starting only one offensive lineman in the same spot — junior right tackle Aamil Wagner — that the O-line unit rolled out for the first day of training camp on July 31.
And none who started last year’s 40-8 Sun Bowl beatdown of Oregon State on Dec. 29, 2024.
Even if everything went according to plan, the offensive line figured to be the position group most likely to provide the off ramp if Notre Dame’s CFP dream was going to be rerouted into something like the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
And things didn’t go according to plan. Many times.
And somehow that position group transcended to the point it’ll be tested by a program that defines defensive front-even prowess, in Georgia.
“Well, you try to teach them that it's not an emergency plan,” Rudolph told Inside ND Sports during Sugar Bowl Media Day on Monday. “Like this is the plan. This is the plan and trust it, and I think they do.
“For whatever reason — and I don't know if it was different this year — but we just talked about and I just told him from the beginning, ‘We're gonna need everybody. Like, we're gonna need everyone. Like, we’ve got to compete as if every guy in this room is the starter.’
“Because we practice hard in practice, and practice is violent and physical. And we'd get a guy chipped up one day. One day we lost Charles Jagusah for the year in a practice. We lost different guys for periods of time, but the next guy in would always feel like, ‘Yeah, this is what I'm supposed to do. It's supposed to be the same.’”
Jagusah was projected to be Notre Dame’s starting left tackle this season. Until he suffered a torn pectoral muscle the first week of camp. Then it was going to be grad senior Tosh Baker until freshman Anthonie Knapp, a Georgia native, rose to the top of the depth chart.
“I think sometimes when he's got a young player, they just went through their job,” Rudolph said of Knapp. “So, I’ve got a defensive end, makes an inside move, and I'm locked in and I shut it down. Well, I didn't get the goal call. I missed the looper, right? You know what I mean?
“Like, he's got a mindset that is a little bit more big-picture-competitive than a lot of guys that walk in, but that's still something that you now have to turn on when it does get in a competitive environment. And so, that's been neat to see.”
And yet Jagusah is suddenly back in the picture — and at right offensive guard if Spindler’s ankle doesn’t hold up after sustaining the injury in the first half of ND’s 27-17 CFP first-round win over Indiana on Dec. 20.
Sophomore Sam Pendleton, who won the left guard spot over two veterans in August, then lost the starting job at midseason, filled in for Spindler at right guard in the second half of the Indiana game.
But now Jagusah is apparently the No. 2 option there. And …
“If we need him, absolutely,” Rudolph said when asked if Jagusah would be used Wednesday night. “Yeah, he's had a good week. We've been banged up. You know, like Rocco, is he going to be OK? Is he not? So, he's been working a lot at the right guard position, in case.
“That’s kind of allowed Sam to work more at the center spot, and really be able to back that up if we need him there. And so, that’s it. Keep going.”
And while Jagusah is loving being back in the mix, he said he appreciates the long, sometimes dark, journey back as well.
“It’s been hard, but I feel like it’s kind of helped me understand that it’s about what the team does,” he said. “So, for me, I wouldn't change the thing about this year, except maybe losing to Northern Illinois.
“But for me just being able to be a part of the great group that we have and see everybody elevate their games every single week has been something that's made me super proud this year.”
And there’s no one starting who hasn’t elevated. And there’s no one starting who hasn’t had some kind of steep challenge to overcome. Even Wagner, who won the job at the end of spring ball and held it throughout training camp and 13 games this season as a first-time starter.
He had to overcome being undersized by roughly 60 pounds coming to ND and having a harder time than most lineman getting up to the 300-pound mark and the strength to go with it.
Then there’s junior starting left guard Billy Schrauth, who started the season at right guard and suffered an ankle injury that sidelined him for four games in September and October. He resurfaced as the starting left guard and is still ascending.
“The way he finished last year, the way he began this year, like he's as good an offensive guard that I've ever been around,” said Rudolph, who’s coached multiple All-Americans at that position in his career.
“And he not only goes through the injury, but has the tightrope surgery on his ankle. And for a lot of guys, that's a lot to go through. And we try to be smart about not pushing him to get back early. Like, we can wait another week. We can wait another week.
“And you don't feel that way unless you truly believe in the guys that are repping. And you do. You do believe in them. And these guys, like we had Rocco Spindler last week, he gets an ankle in the first half. He knew that the next guy in would be better than him, because he was impaired.
“Like that doesn't happen a lot, you know what I mean? And these guys, they believe in each other. So, Billy coming back, I think he's getting back close to that level of being like, ‘I trust my ankle. I put my foot in the ground and play.’ So it's fun to see. So, hopefully we’ve kind of closed the gap on that this week.”
And senior Pat Coogan, a 2023 starter who got beaten out for his old guard spot, has been a revelation at center, stepping in for an injured Ashton Craig. And Spindler, also demoted in August, pushing to the top of the depth chart when Schauth went down.
“There's been a lot of thrills of victory and agonies of defeat,” Spindler said. “It’s kind of how I see it. And my mindset at the beginning season was definitely challenging. It tries to pull you into a dark place.
“But you know, for me, coach [Marcus] Freeman always says, ‘Keep the pain from NIU’ [a 16-14 ND loss], and that's kind of how I keep my pain, is remembering where it came from how I keep pushing forward.’”
And now they push forward together. Not the way Rudolph would ever draw it up, but with the playoff snapshot of their collective progress — an asset to the Irish playoff run — business as usual like he could not have imagined.
“It is extremely rewarding,” he said, when you see the guy that isn't the guy yet work like he is the guy. That's what's rewarding. That makes you feel pretty cool.”
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