Two key Notre Dame players face surgery, impacting spring practices. Coach Freeman details Onye's hand injury and Reddish's shoulder issue.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman met with the media this morning following his team's sixth practice of the 2026 spring. At the outset of his press conference, Freeman announced that a pair of Notre Dame players had injuries that would require surgery.
Freeman announced that sixth-year senior Jason Onye had a surgery on his hand that might keep him out for the remainder of the spring.
"Jason Onye, he had surgery yesterday on his right hand," Freeman explained. "He just had a small fracture on his hand and we put a pin in it. I don't know if that keeps him out for spring, but it's nothing that we're overly concerned about."
According to sources, Onye was having yet another dominant spring. That has been common for Onye, who has been a standout each of the last three seasons. The key here is getting him as much time as needed to recover from the injury instead of putting value on getting more reps in the spring and have a later surgery.
Freeman also announced that freshman nickel Nick Reddish would be out for the remainder of the spring due to a shoulder injury that warrants an upcoming surgery.
"Nick Reddish has surgery tomorrow, he's got a labrum tear on his shoulder, so we've got to get that fixed and get him back for fall camp," Freeman stated.
Reddish was one of the more underrated members of the No. 1 ranked 2026 recruiting class, but his performance this spring had impressive. Reddish was a standout in the first open practice and was getting a lot of action at the nickel position.
Notre Dame came into the spring with a number of injuries, but so far this spring there haven't been many added. Freeman noted that at the end of his injury update.
"Other than that we've been pretty healthy," Freeman noted. "Just a couple minor things that happen when you practice football. But it's been a pretty healthy spring ball."
With Notre Dame just six practices into spring there is still plenty of time and work left for the game. I'm sure the Irish coaching staff hopes that the current string of good fortune from an injury standpoint remains.
Notre Dame can practice 15 times this spring, so they are almost halfway through spring practices. The spring concludes with the annual Blue-Gold Game. That game will be played on April 25th inside Notre Dame Stadium. It will be the fifth spring game of the Freeman tenure.
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