It's officially the part of Notre Dame football's fall camp where unfortunate injuries start to pop up. Such was the case of offensive lineman Matty Augustine and defensive back Chaz Smith. The two Irish veterans underwent surgery earlier this summer, and while both are expected to play at some point this season, there's no indication of when.
Of the two players, Augustine's injury is the one that could change the direction of a position battle. 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, it looks like Absher has now won the job by default at least for the early part of the season.
Notre Dame issued a statement saying both players will be back for the season. That clearly means that Augustine will be able to jump back into the fight when he heals up. In the meantime, the program has arrived at the starting right guard much earlier than it did a year ago.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock watched the same competition play out over the season, with Guerby Lambert eventually beating out Absher for the starting spot. Perhaps because of that Denbrock was perfectly happy letting the position battle play out this year. However, that wasn't to be.
Matty Augustine surgery reshapes Notre Dame football right guard battle
“You'd love to have the answers as early as possible, but there's some really good competition going on there. We'll let it run its course here for a little bit and evaluate as we go to see if it kind of clears itself. If it's something that maybe extends into a second or even third week, we’ll see how that goes," Denbrock said earlier in camp.
As far as depth goes while Augustine is healing from surgery on his foot, seniors Chris Terek and Devan Houstan have worked at guard this offseason. Terek has experience at right guard, while Houstan moved from the defensive line in the spring of 2025.
That would hint at Terek being the chief backup of Absher for the time being.
Chaz Smith's injury, which also required surgery on his right wrist will also see the defensive back come back at some point this season. The good news for Notre Dame, is that it seemed unlikely that Smith would compete for a starting job this season. The freshman was looked at as deep depth.
While it certainly isn't the way the team wanted to decide things, the right guard for Notre Dame is one of the few positions that has now been settled heading into the season opener against Wisconsin.
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