SOUTH BEND — Natural grass fields aren’t the best rolling surface for knee scooters, especially when the user goes 6-foot-5 and 316 pounds.
Yet there was Notre Dame football defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio, his surgically repaired left foot in a boot, moving himself from station to station with a smile as he took mental reps at Tuesday’s practice.
“Shout-out to Gabe,” graduate senior defensive tackle Rylie Mills said. “I’ve just been impressed. The past (few) days he’s been hurt, you couldn’t tell if he was down or he was feeling bad about it. He comes in the training room with a smile on his face, he comes out to practice, he’s wheeling into the team meetings, and that’s just a credit to who he is.”
A fourth-year junior from St. Louis, Rubio is expected to return at some point this season after suffering a fractured second metatarsal on July 31 in the opening practice of fall camp. Typical recovery periods, depending on the sport, tend to run from six weeks to several months, but Rubio is sticking close to the action.
“He’ll come out there and never bat an eye,” Mill said. “He’s an old-school, lunchpail kind of guy. He’s come out and worked. I know whenever he comes back, he’ll be good to go.”
Opportunity to learn for injured Charles Jagusah
For redshirt freshman left tackle Charles Jagusah, the prognosis is more daunting. Set to undergo surgery after tearing a pectoral muscle near his right shoulder in Saturday’s practice, Jagusah is expected to miss the entire 2024 season, even with an expanded College Football Playoff potentially keeping Notre Dame in action until mid-January.
Left guard Pat Coogan, suddenly the most experienced member of a remade offensive line, noted the shock of watching “our guy walk off in terrible pain.” And yet Coogan, who tore meniscus in his right knee the spring after his freshman year, offered an uplifting message for Jagusah as the 6-foot-7, 330-pounder from Rock Island, Ill., begins the long road to recovery.
“I really gained a perspective on the game of football,” Coogan said of his 2022 setback. “I got to see everything from the backside. I was not in there, so I got to see the running backs’ angles, the quarterback, the eyes, all of that. I learned how to play football when I wasn’t on the field and when I was hurt that spring.”
Jagusah, who spent most of his freshman fall recovering from knee surgery in his final high school semester, is still viewed as Notre Dame’s future at left tackle. For now, graduate senior Tosh Baker, who started two games there in 2021 as well as last year’s Sun Bowl at right tackle, moves into the starting lineup.
“I know he’s in high spirits right now,” Coogan said of Jagusah. “That would be my advice to him: Just watch everything, pay attention. And he’s going to. He’s a great kid and he cares a lot. His care factor is through the roof. I know he’s going to come back stronger because that’s the type of guy he is.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and the South Bend Tribune. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Injured linemen for Notre Dame football earn admirers among teammates
