On Monday, the Notre Dame football communications team announced an update on Billy Schrauth‘s status after he left Saturday’s Purdue game and did not return due to injury. The Fighting Irish starting right guard is out for the Miami (Ohio) game due to an ankle injury.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Schrauth would be “out for a few weeks” during his Monday news conference.

Schrauth’s injury occurred with about seven minutes remaining in the first quarter. During a run to Jeremiyah Love, Schrauth pulled up, holding his lower right leg in the air. On the play, it looked like a Purdue defender’s left shoulder pad hit Schrauth’s lower right leg, causing him to fall. 

Notre Dame head football athletic trainer Rob Hunt performed an on-field examination of Schrauth’s lower right leg. He walked off the field with Hunt and another Irish staff member’s assistance. Eventually, Schrauth was carted into the locker room from the sideline. 

Blue & Gold later spotted Schrauth, a junior, on the sideline with a right boot and crutches. 

When Schrauth was in the game, the Irish averaged 14 yards per carry (7 rushes, 98 yards). A good chunk of that change came on Love’s 48-yard touchdown run up the right side two minutes into the opening quarter. Notre Dame still averaged 8.3 yards per carry outside of Love’s score. The starting O-line also did not surrender a play with negative yardage during Schrauth’s 10 snaps.

Who will start at right guard for Notre Dame for the injured Billy Schrauth?

Senior Rocco Spindler, last season’s starting right guard, relieved Schrauth for 40 snaps. Sophomore right guard Chris Terek made his collegiate debut and played the final 23 snaps during mop-up duty. The Notre Dame football communications team lists Spindler as the starting right guard on the depth chart for Saturday’s game against Miami (Ohio).

Spindler did not allow any pressures or sacks in 21 pass-blocking reps. His Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 83.3 was first among all Irish players. After the game, Freeman recognized him and Pat Coogan for stepping up after losing their starting jobs after last season. Coogan replaced center Ashton Craig, who is out for the season with left knee injury.

“I just told those guys, man, ‘Like, to start as many games as those two started, and to not be the starter and to be prepared and to be great teammates,’ I can’t speak any more highly of those two guys, man,” Freeman said. “They went in there, and they got the job done. 

“It’s a respect to the preparation. It’s a respect to their unselfishness, to their love for the team. Those two guys deserve a lot of credit for the way they prepare, the way they make the guys in front of them better, and in the way when they got their opportunity, went there and did their job.”

Before Schrauth’s injury, he started the first three games of the 2024 season. He also started the final three games in 2023 after the Irish lost Spindler for the year due to a knee injury. Unlike Spindler in 2023, Schrauth will have the chance to return later in the 2024 season.

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