Marcus Freeman hoped for a better start to the 2026 season after a disappointing playoff miss. But turns out his nightmares are not over yet. One of Notre Dame’s defensive tackles has decided to retire because of medical reasons, leaving a big hole in the team’s defense.

Irish Sports Daily’s Matt Freeman reported the news on June 22, 2026, that Brenan Vernon took a medical retirement after three long years. This year was speculated as his major comeback, but it turns out Vernon will no longer see the field.

Last year, Marcus Freeman gave an update regarding his health condition as he suffered a knee injury during spring practice on April 9. Because of this, Vernon had to go through MCL surgery, but he was also expected to return in July. During his recruitment time, too, Irish Breakdown publisher Bryan Driskell pointed out that he had a “checkered injury history,” which even dragged his grade down.

It’s still not known if that was the reason behind his medical retirement, but he suffered enough. Most of his college career, too, went on the sidelines, recovering from health issues. Because of this, Vernon had to finish his football career by recording just four tackles over three seasons at Notre Dame.

This shows how demanding playing at the college level can be. Players come in with a dream to find success, but injuries come their way. And Vernon is not the only Notre Dame player who had to take a medical retirement from football. Back in 2022, their freshman OL Joey Tanona was also forced to retire medically.

This retirement comes at a very sensitive time for Brenan Vernon and his family, as he had two full years of eligibility remaining and a golden chance to prove his game.

Despite being the No. 4 player in Ohio back in 2023 and gaining heavy interest from the team, he chose Notre Dame. But during his three years of time at Notre Dame, he just appeared in four games, two as a freshman in 2023 and two as a sophomore in 2024. Last year, Vernon didn’t appear in a single game. He came into the program for Marcus Freeman but couldn’t show his actual caliber.

“He has a great soul,” Vernon told Blue & Gold during his recruitment about Freeman. “He’s such a great guy in general, just like the rest of them. There’s nothing else to say about Freeman other than he’s just such a great person.”

The worst part is that Marcus Freeman’s team has been dealing with this issue for a long time now.

Marcus Freeman loses players to medical reasons

Brenan Vernon became the second Notre Dame defensive lineman to retire for medical reasons during this offseason. Earlier, on December 29, team captain Donovan Hinish also announced that he could no longer play football because of health issues. Hinish was an important player for Notre Dame. Over his career, he played in 37 games, recorded 57 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and one pass breakup.

During the last two seasons alone, he appeared in 27 games and played a major role on the defensive line. Even after losing both Vernon and Hinish, Notre Dame still has plenty of depth. The team currently has 20 scholarship defensive linemen on its roster, so it is not short of players at the position. But they did lose two valuable assets from the team.

Then there’s Kevin Bauman, who joined Notre Dame in 2020 and stayed with the football team for six years. But injuries took a hard hit on him. This was not his first injury. In fact, he suffered four major injuries to the same left leg in five years. His injury problems started in 2021 when he broke his leg. In 2022, he tore his ACL after only three games.

Then he tore the same ACL again during training camp in 2023. After finally staying healthy throughout the 2024 season, he felt stronger and was ready for a fresh start in 2025.

Now, let’s wait and see if, after all the major setbacks, Marcus Freeman can take his team to the playoffs or not.