Notre Dame Enters An Important Transition Period For The Offensive Line

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has said that the Irish program will be driven by its line play during his tenure, and from an offensive standpoint this has been true for some time. The Irish are entering a bit of a transition period with legendary coach Harry Hiestand retiring, and Joe Rudolph arriving.

We don't know what. the Rudolph era will look like, but there's no doubt Notre Dame will need Rudolph to build on what Hiestand established if the Irish are going to continue their excellent offensive line tradition.

THE PAST

Notre Dame has been a strong offensive line program in many different eras, but one of the most successful is the one that Hiestand established when he arrived in 2012. Over the next six years the Irish offensive line was consistently one of the nation's best, and it won the Joe Moore Award in 2017.

Beginning with the 2014 NFL Draft, the Irish have been arguably the best producer of NFL players in all of college football. Notre Dame put 10 offensive linemen into the NFL Draft, with nine coming in the first three rounds (including four first rounders). That list is only going to grow over the next couple of seasons.

The on-field product has been outstanding. In 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020 the Fighting Irish had one of the nation's best lines, and I wouldn't trade the 2015 or 2017 units for any other group of blockers in all of college football, and the 2020 line wasn't far behind.

Notre Dame's 2013 line didn't produce great rushing numbers, but it was the nation's best pass blocking unit, giving up just eight sacks for an entire season.

Over the last decade Notre Dame has produced eight different players that earned first or second team All-American honors. That list included a unanimous selection (Quenton Nelson) and three consensus All-Americans (Ronnie Stanley, Mike McGlinchey, Liam Eichenberg).

THE PRESENT

Hiestand's decision to retire created a bit of uncertainty regarding the 2023 offensive line. His return, and the return of All-American Joe Alt, potential All-American Blake Fisher and steady center Zeke Correll would have raised expectations extremely high for the line. There also would have been a great deal of confidence in the line reaching its potential due to Hiestand's track record, especially considering how quickly he turned the line around after a rough 2021 campaign.

Rudolph doesn't have Hiestand's reputation, but he'll be tasked with building on what Hiestand re-established in 2022 when he returned for a second stint in charge of the line. Rudolph will be tasked with building a line that can carry the offense and be a key part of a championship offense.

Alt and Fisher have an opportunity to form the best tackle tandem in college football this season. For Alt, the key is staying healthy and just continuing to be the player he has already proven to be. There is some room for him to improve, especially considering he was a pure sophomore a season ago, but Alt was already an elite player last season.

Fisher is the player with the most to prove, and most area for improvement. The Indiana native flashed big time potential, but the Irish tackles becoming the nation's best tandem will require him to play more consistent football, and show greater dominance.

Correll got off to a rough start last season, but by the middle of the season he had found his footing and finished the season on a strong note. Correll needs to work his feet better, and like Fisher he needs to be more consistently effective from a technical and execution standpoint, but he'll have a chance to be one of the better centers in college football this season.

Notre Dame's ultimate success will be determined by how the two open guard positions get filled. Sophomore Billy Schrauth, fifth-year senior Andrew Kristofic, junior Rocco Spindler and potentially senior Michael Carmody will battle for the starting role. There are also talented young players like sophomore Ashton Craig and freshman Charles Jagusah that could also push for time.

Whoever steps into the starting lineup will need to quickly get up to speed. Rudolph will need to get the guards playing at a high level if the line is going to reach its potential. At the very least the line should be good in 2023, but if Rudolph can get the guard play to thrive the Irish will battle for the best line in college football this season.

THE FUTURE

There is good young talent on the current line, with sophomores Schrauth, Craig, Aamil Wagner and Ty Chan having a chance to be a strong group in the future. Schrauth is likely to earn a starting role this season, and both Wagner and Craig have strong opportunities to earn two-deep roles.

Notre Dame also welcomed a talented group of freshmen offensive linemen this summer. Jagusah was a five-star recruit, and Sullivan Absher, Sam Pendleton, Joe Otting and Christopher Terek combined with Jagusah to be one of the nation's best group of blockers in the 2023 class.

As good as those groups are there is a glaring problem with the young linemen. That is the reality that while strong on numbers with nine players from those classes being on the current roster, the groups are light on pure tackles. Wagner is the most natural tackle of the group even with his weight concerns, and Jagusah certainly has the potential to be an outstanding offensive.

Beyond that there is some projection for the young blockers regarding their fit at tackle. Chan played tackle this past season, but his game is better suited for the inside. Absher will also get a crack at tackle, but he'll need a lot of work in order to learn the nuances of pass protection.

That means Rudolph's first offensive line class - the 2024 class - must add at least two legit tackles to the roster. Landing Styles Prescod was a step in the right direction, but the Irish absolutely must land Guerby Lambert in the class as well. A class with Lambert, Prescod, Peter Jones and Anthonie Knapp following the previous two classes would put Notre Dame in position to have a very deep, very long and very talented group of young linemen.

That would certainly make for a very, very bright future for the Notre Dame offensive line as long as Rudolph proves capable of being a top-notch developer.

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