Eli Raridon Is Inching His Way Back After Second Knee Injury

Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon tore the same ACL twice in less than a year

Notre Dame sophomore tight end Eli Raridon has been on the bumpy road to recovery longer than he would have liked.. Longer than anyone would like, for that matter, but the talented tight end has certainly come a long way. 

When the Fighting Irish tight end tore his right ACL last October it shut down what had been a promising start to his freshman season. It was the second time in less than a year he tore his right ACL. Now, nine-plus months into his recovery, Raridon estimates he is not back to full strength just yet

"I'm not quite,” Raridon said in the opening days of Notre Dame’s fall training camp. "We're still working to get there. I'm evaluating where I am with the trainers every 10 practices, but I've got a little work to do as far as gaining leg mass and strength and just a couple more testing stuff before I can be full go. 

"I'm in no rush, I want to feel 100 percent I don't want anything even a little, like this hurts a little bit," continued Raridon. "I want this leg to feel exactly like my other leg before I go out there and it's mainly just a confidence thing. I just want to feel really confident before I go out.”

If Raridon is extra cautious, it’s for a reason. The 6-7, 250-pound tight end tore the same ACL in December 2021 during his senior year high school basketball season. Looking back, he thinks he may have rushed the recovery process the first time.

"Maybe a little bit,” Raridon said of his initial return. “I can tell a few things, like this kind of hurts today, but I would say I felt pretty good last year. I felt better than I did this year. I think that's partly because of what surgery I had. The patella tendon surgery I had this time, it takes longer to feel better. The second time around, it's going to be a harder recovery, too.”

The surgery the Des Moines, Iowa native had this time was the same as he had the first time, but with a subtle difference.

"It was the same injury,” Raridon explained. "What they can do with the surgeries is different. They can take your hamstring tendon or patellar tendon or they can do a lot of different things to [repair] your ACL. The first time I had a hamstring and the second time I had a patellar tendon.”

Raridon has been able to practice in low stress situations during the opening days of training camp. He can’t do “competitive reps” in practice against a defense, but he is able to run pass routes and walk through plays and blocks. He caught several passes off the Jugs machine this summer.

"I came in here several times during the summer,” Raridon recounted. “I put the tracker on, that's really cool. It senses where you are, if the ball is high or low or off to the side where you have to get it. It's not like a normal jug machine where it's in the middle every time. It can sense where you are. It's very nice to have.

“I think it helped a lot with my ball skills with me not being able to run routes,” Raridon continued. “When the team would come in during the summer and run routes, I kind of sat out of that, but I did my own thing. Going over there, putting the chip on and doing the seeker. So, it was definitely it was great to have during my injury.”

After sitting in Notre Dame’s season opener against Ohio State, Raridon played in Notre Dame’s next five games before suffering a non-contact tear after the Oct. 15 game against Stanford. Because he played in five games, he lost a full season of eligibility and has three seasons remaining. Raridon is hopeful he will be 100% and back in action before Notre Dame’s season opens on Aug. 26 against Navy. 

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