During Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s weekly Zoom meeting with local media, he offered up several promising updates on the injured Fighting Irish players. However, when it comes to right guard Matty Augustine, more questions remain than answers.
“He's progressing,” said Freeman. “He's getting better. I don't have a timetable, but he's getting better.”
The “getting better” language is similar to what Freeman said about wide receiver Quincy Porter weeks ago. Porter is still likely weeks away from returning to the field. In other words, Augustine will probably play again this season. That may still be several weeks away.
The loss of Augustine was a big blow to the Notre Dame offensive line just ahead of the season’s opener. The 6-foot-7, 315-pound Augustine entered fall camp competing with Sullivan Absher for the starting right guard job after putting together a strong spring exhibition. However, a foot injury ended the competition.
Matty Augustine's injury creates growing concern for Notre Dame football ahead of BYU
The injury was also a big blow to Augustine. Earlier this spring, he drew rave reviews. According to Blue and Gold’s Eric Hansen, the Irish coaches are taking notice of Augustine and how he’s handled himself. “Redshirt freshman OL Matty Augustine is a player who's making a strong push this summer to rearrange the NotreDame depth chart,” Hansen wrote on Twitter earlier this year. Hansen also quoted a coach on how they’re approaching Augustine’s role in 2026.
“He’s put himself in a position to at least be a challenge. And we’ll kind of see how the fight goes.”
Augustine saw very limited snaps in 2025 (55), but when he was on the field, he was Notre Dame’s top-rated offensive lineman, per Pro Football Focus grades (85.3), and its No. 1 run blocker (81.4). In contrast, Absher logged 327 snaps and had a 64.1 overall grade and a 62.6 PFF run-blocking grade.
So far this season, right guard has been a bit of a problem. Styles Prescod got the start against Wisconsin after having a nice lead-up to the season. However, he struggled mightily and was eventually lifted for Absher.
While Absher played well in the second half against the Badgers, he’s struggled himself in the last two games. Overall, his PFF grade is worse than it was a year ago, which led to the battle for the right guard position in the first place.
Over Notre Dame’s first three games, the struggles at right guard haven’t been a huge concern, thanks to the closest game being its Week 3 27-10 win against Michigan State. However, PFF says Absher’s play has gotten worse as the season has gone on.
With Matty Augustine not due back anytime soon, the only other player Notre Dame has given any real playing time at right guard is Cam Herron. He saw a ton of action against Rice and performed quite well, but it’s clear he did most of that when the team had already run away with the contest and the Owls were beat down and broken.
Notre Dame should be fine with the status quo on the offensive line against Purdue, North Carolina, and Stanford. However, a game against a very solid BYU in Provo could come down to keeping quarterback CJ Carr’s jersey as clean as possible. If Augustine isn’t back by then, that task becomes much harder.
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