Notre Dame’s defense will get a surprising boost this weekend when it kicks off the 2025 season in Miami. Head coach Marcus Freeman announced on Tuesday that Senior defensive end Jordan Botelho is officially available for the Irish after battling back from last season’s knee injury and a pectoral injury earlier this year that cast his availability for the early part of the season in doubt.
Botelho, one of Notre Dame’s most explosive pass rushers, has not played since suffering a torn pateller tendon in week 3 action against Purdue in 2024. That injury cost him the entire 2024 season and Notre Dame’s playoff run. Just as he was beginning to ramp back up, he suffered a torn pectoral muscle this summer that set him back again and cast doubt on his availability for the early part of 2025.
Now, heading into Sunday’s top-ten clash with Miami, Botelho is available and ready to go although Freeman did not commit to any sort of snap count or even as to whether or not Botelho will see the field. We’ve seen Notre Dame have players return and be available but not play right away in the past. Still, his return adds valuable experience and pass-rushing ability to a defensive front that already features rising stars Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore.
At his best, Botelho is a relentless edge presence who brings energy and toughness off the edge. In 2022, he recorded 4.5 sacks and 7 tackles for loss, showing flashes of the disruptive potential Notre Dame has missed in his absence. He was a menace in Kyle Field against Texas A&M to open the 2024 season and looked primed for a long-awaited breakout. Unfortunately, the injury two weeks later delayed any breakout. It looked like this summer’s pec injury was about to do the same. Coaches and teammates have praised his work ethic during rehab, noting that he attacked recovery with the same intensity he shows on the field.
“We didn’t expect Jordan to be back for week one,” Freeman said on Tuesday. “The work he’s put in to put himself in a position, physically and mentally, to help this football team shows you his commitment to this football team.”
Botelho’s availability doesn’t guarantee he’ll be in a full-time role immediately, but potentially having him in the rotation this weekend would strengthen Notre Dame’s defensive depth against a Miami offense that thrives on tempo and balance.
For Botelho, simply being back on the field and in uniform must feel incredible after more than a year of setbacks. Anything Notre Dame can get out of him this weekend would be huge, but the bigger story here is that this latest injury isn’t going to linger into the season.
