Getty Image / Thearon W. Henderson
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish seemingly have strong offensive line play every year and have put a ton of high-level guys into the NFL up front recently. But, this year could be a challenge for the Irish in the trenches.
Injuries and inexperience means that the Notre Dame offensive line that takes the field in Saturday’s huge season opener on the road against Texas A&M will be incredibly inexperienced. Given the talent level and atmosphere they are playing against, that could spell huge trouble for Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish.
Onlookers knew long ago that this would be an inexperienced offensive line, especially at at tackle. Top-ten pick Joe Alt and 2nd-rounder Blake Fisher manned the tackle spots left year and left for the NFL early. But, when one of the projected starters at tackle coming into this season when Charles Jagusah got injured in camp. His season-ending shoulder injury left them really thin at tackle.
When the Irish depth chart was revealed for Saturday’s marquee game, there were just six returning starts total at the five offensive line spots. Yes, six.
Experienced players in Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler appear to have been beaten out at center and guard, respectively, by sophomore junior Ashton Craig and sophomore Sam Pendleton.
But, the biggest surprise is at left tackle, where a true freshman, Anthonie Knapp, is going to get the start. And, he’s going to have his hands full.
First off, unless the recruiting services got it very wrong, Knapp should be nowhere ready to play at that level as a true freshman. The Georgia product was a run-of-the-mill three-star prospect that was ranked as the 80th offensive tackle prospect in America by 247.
Meanwhile, the Aggie front may be the strength of their entire squad, with a great defensive end pairing in Shemar Stewart and Purdue transfer Nic Scourton. They’re going to try to isolate those guys on Knapp all game, and likely will have some success.
New offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, now in his third stint as a Notre Dame assistant coach, and Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard are going to have their work cut out for them on Saturday.