One would think there is a big difference from playing left tackle versus right guard but for Notre Dame’s Charles Jagusah, he doesn’t care. He’s happy to play either spot in order to get on the field for the Irish.

Jagusah was set to be Notre Dame’s starting left tackle in 2024 but was injured during training camp. Notre Dame’s prolonged season of 16 games and a trip to the national championship game allowed Jagusah to do something pretty rare, play his only games of the season in the College Football Playoffs.

The 330 pounder returned to action from a torn pectoral muscle in special teams action in the CFP quarterfinals against Georgia in early January. Then when Rocco Spindler was injured against Penn State a week later in the semifinals, Jagusah was thrust into his first game action of the season on the offensive line right in the middle of a Final Four game.

“The first drive was a little bit interesting not really knowing you are going out there,” Jagusah reflected this week. “I felt like after that I really calmed down and I was able to see things a little bit better. As a whole, it was a great experience for me. To be able to field that confidence in a game was big.”

Irish offensive line coach Joe Rudolph felt what Jagusah accomplished coming back was huge for everyone on the team to see how someone can overcome adversity to be ready when their time comes.

“When he jumped in for the Penn State game, he wasn’t perfect but he gave us a spark,” Rudolph explains. “He had some great movement. He was excited for the opportunity. Next thing you know, he’s going to be the next week at a different position and he goes in and battles against Ohio State. I was really proud of him.”

That’s right. After filling in at right guard against Penn State, Jagusah was asked to start at left tackle in the national championship game because of another injury.

“I was just grateful to be able to come back for the last couple of games and try and help out the team,” Jagusah says. “They were working the whole year to get us there. For me it was just being able to add something to that memory, it was great for me.”

What Jagusah accomplished was not lost on his teammates.

“It’s testimony to the work he puts in outside of football,” fellow offensive lineman Aamil Wagner says. “Whether it’s extra lifts with [strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow], learning the playbook, attending the meetings—he’s always locked in. The 10-12 weeks where he sat dormant, recovering and getting stronger, he truly took it to heart. It showed that he was able to step in right away and not just be a lineman that was serviceable but be an affective lineman.”

The work to get to that point wasn’t easy but Jagusah bought into the path and possibility to returning to the field late in the season if he did the work needed and his team made a deep playoff run. Both things happened.

“Charles would be the first person to tell you that it wasn’t instant,” Rudolph points out. “It took a long journey to get there.”

Rudolph says the journey started with good communication right after the injury. Jagusah was naturally down. He was expecting to be a starter on Notre Dame’s offensive line and before he ever got the chance, he was injured in preseason camp.

“The first thing we hit him with was, ‘what can you control now?’” Rudolph continued. “You get through the surgery and then Coach Landow and the weight room crew and everyone kept giving him a picture that if we play and we continue to play, there’s a chance you could get back at an opportune time.”

The 4-star recruit, whose only other start outside of the national championship game came in the Sun Bowl the year prior, credits everyone within the program for his return at the end of the season. He says it was a total team effort from the trainers, coaches, support staff and his teammates.

Where Jagusah ultimately ends up for 2025 remains up in the air. It could be at tackle where he has made two starts or it could be at guard. If it is guard, Rudolph believes he can develop into one of the best guards in the nation. Ultimately it will depend on where the Irish need him the most and he’s up for any path that gives him a chance to assist his teammates.

He also knows he has just two starts under his belt and he has a lot to improve on before the start of the 2025 season arrives. But playing last year even for just a few games, strengthens his knowledge of what he needs to do to improve.

“It gives me more takeaways,” Jagusah says. “How can I be confident going into next year? What are things that I can do well and what are the things that I need to work on? It was great to have more baseline data points to say, ‘this is where I’m at and this is what I have to get better at.”

Jagusah feels his natural power and athleticism are his strengths but he has to keep working on pass pro, run game techniques and having a plan every play and being locked in on the details pre snap.