How Boubacar Traore Is Refining His Game With NFL Feedback and Charlie Partridge’s Help

Boubacar Traore did not need long to explain what Charlie Partridge has changed about his game.

“A lot of things, such as just striking blocks, getting crushed between the A and the B gap, not letting it widen up,” Traore said at Notre Dame’s fall camp availability in the second week of camp last week. “As far as pass rush, just different moves like pull through, stuff like that.”

That work started with NFL draft feedback. Traore came out of the evaluation process with a clear list of fixes and built his offseason around them.

“I mean, I use it as like motivation and just things that I need to work on,” he said. “I mean, it’s great information. So I try to apply it every day pre-practice, post-practice, just try to get as much work in as I can every day and just doing everything outside of the building like the best of my ability, which is staying on film, doing extra walkthroughs, and just things like that.”

Starting With the Run Game

The most important item on that list is keeping the gap from widening. For an edge defender, that means striking first, holding his surface and refusing to give ground against the run. It is not glamorous, and it does not always show up in the stat sheet, but it is the foundation of the job.

Traore has already shown he can handle it. Last season he posted career highs with 37 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks in a front that asked him to set the edge as much as it did to hunt quarterbacks.

The pass-rush work sounds more like refinement than overhaul. Traore mentioned the pull-through, a counter that uses the blocker’s hands against him. That is the kind of addition a player makes when the base is already in place.

“I mean, he’s taught me a lot of things,” Traore said. “Just him being here, I mean, he’s just given me so many tools so far, and I’ve just been able to apply that in practice.”

What Partridge Brings

Partridge’s background matters here. He coached JJ Watt at Wisconsin and Trey Hendrickson at Florida Atlantic, two edge defenders who developed into premier NFL pass rushers. Traore might be built in the same mold as either, but the teaching that helped shape those players is now being applied to a veteran who already has production.

The timing makes the assignment tougher. Partridge is also installing a new playbook, and by his own account roughly 90 percent of it was in by the second week of camp. Traore is absorbing that volume while reworking technique at the same time.

Why the Front Could Help Him Break Through

The other factor in Traore’s projection is the help around him. Notre Dame added size on the interior, and Traore was direct about what that should mean for the edge defenders.

“I mean it benefits us a lot,” he said. “I mean eventually, whenever we’re setting the edge we’re going to see the ball bounce because the middle is going to be clogged up. So, I mean, that’s just going to be times where we’re being able to get TFLs, and also they’re going to be able to get TFLs with all the disruption they’re causing.”

That is the picture of a front built to funnel plays outward. If the middle is clogged, runs bounce. If runs bounce, edge defenders who have spent the offseason sharpening hand placement and gap integrity get more chances to finish for loss.

Traore’s sack totals have climbed from 1 to 3 to 6.5 over the last three years. Last season’s production also came in meaningful spots: sacks at Miami and against USC, plus a two-sack game against NC State. He has already shown he can produce against good offensive lines and in big games.

That is why double-digit sacks this fall feels realistic. The trend points that way, the offseason addressed the specific technical details that turn pressure into finishes, and the interior in front of him should create more bounce-outs and more disruption. Notre Dame does not need Traore to become a different player. It needs him to sharpen the one he already is.

Asked what he wants the identity of the front to be, Traore kept it simple.

“Violent. Violent and fast,” he said. “I mean, I just want us to play clear-minded and just physical, just focusing on our keys and just playing through the whistle and playing through our man and our key.”