| No. 5 – Notre Dame Fighting Irish | |
|---|---|
| Position | Defensive end |
| Class |  |
| Personal information | |
| Born | October 24, 2004 |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight | 250 lb (113 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Catholic Memorial (West Roxbury, Massachusetts) |
| College | Notre Dame (2023–present) |
Boubacar Traore (born October 24, 2004 [1] ) is an American college football defensive end for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Traore is from Boston, Massachusetts. [2] His brother, Badara, played college football for the LSU Tigers and later was a member of the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL. [3] He attended Catholic Memorial School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he played football as a defensive end and tight end. [4] He grew from 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and 215 pounds (98 kg) to 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and 255 pounds (116 kg) by his junior year, becoming one of Catholic Memorial's top players. [4] A Muslim, some of his games were during Ramadan and thus he played through them without drinking any water. [4] Traore helped his team to state championships in his last two seasons. [5] He was named first-team all-state as a senior and was invited to the All-American Bowl. [6] A four-star recruit and a top-150 recruit nationally, he committed to play college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. [5]
As a true freshman at Notre Dame in 2023, Traore played in five games, totaling one sack and a forced fumble. [7] He became a starter in 2024 after an injury to Jordan Botelho and recorded a 34-yard interception return touchdown against Purdue in the third game of the season. [8] He was the team's leader in sacks (3) and tackles-for-loss (5) before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the fifth game of the season. [7]
| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Total | Solo | Ast | Sack | PD | Int | Yds | TD | FF | FR | TD | ||
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 5 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 3.0 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | Notre Dame | 9 | 9 | 32 | 18 | 14 | 6.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 19 | 11 | 44 | 27 | 17 | 10.5 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
