Notre Dame had been waiting for Jordan Botelho to have a season like this. The graduate student defensive end has the highest 2024 Pro Football Focus defensive grade of any of the Fighting Irish’s players on that side of the ball through three games.

And now he’s out for the season with a knee injury.

With 8:19 left in the second quarter of this past Saturday’s game against Purdue, he bent around the left side of Boilermakers left tackle Corey Stewart and lost his footing. Botelho immediately grabbed his right knee and began tapping it.

After Botelho underwent an on-field medical examination from the Notre Dame football athletic training staff, one long enough for the CBS broadcast to go to a media timeout, Irish staffers called for the medical cart to pick him up. Most of the current Irish defense — led by his replacement, sophomore Boubacar Traore — acknowledged Botelho as he left the field seated upright. He waved at his teammates before entering the tunnel.

In five seasons at Notre Dame, Botelho has accumulated 77 total tac,kles including 15.0 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. In 2024, Botelho had 12 total tackles with 1.0 tackle for loss and 1.0 sack. He led the Irish with 7 quarterback pressures and 5 quarterback hurries through three games, per Pro Football Focus. He had a pass-rush win percentage of 23.3, the highest among any Notre Dame player with double-digit pass-rush snaps logged.

Botelho can retain a year of eligibility by taking a medical redshirt for this season, meaning he can indeed return to Notre Dame for a sixth season in 2025 if the coaching staff welcomes him back and he takes the staff up on the offer. He arrived in South Bend in 2020, so his first season was the COVID year that did not count against anyone’s eligibility.

For the time being, Notre Dame will turn to the aforementioned Traore to replace Botelho as the starter at Vyper end. Traore had 2 tackles for loss, including a sack, and an interception returned for a touchdown against Purdue. He’s been a constant fixture in the Notre Dame defense, even with Botelho in the starting spot. Traore has played 34, 20 and 23 defensive snaps in the Irish’s first three games this season.

Third-year player Junior Tuihalamaka has been third in line at Vyper this season. He made his season debut in the defensive phase of the game against Purdue, playing 18 snaps. It’ll be intriguing to see how much he plays in tandem with Traore or if the Irish give freshman Loghan Thomas any chances on Saturdays.

Notre Dame is young and largely inexperienced at Vyper behind Botelho. His is a season-ending injury that’ll certainly test the Irish up front.

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