SI: Notre Dame Is "Offensive Line U."
Former line coach Harry Hiestand turned Notre Dame into “Offensive Line U.” during his six seasons in South Bend.
In its series ranking the top producers of talent at each position, Sports Illustrated ranked Notre Dame as the top producer of offensive line talent over the last decade. The rankings are based on what players do at the professional level, beginning with the draft.
“In was the closest race we had in the Position U. series. Notre Dame has only put 10 offensive linemen into the NFL over the past decade, but three became All-Pros, with a combined seven first-team All-Pro nods: guards Zack Martin (four) and Quenton Nelson (two), and tackle Ronnie Stanley.” - SI
The peak of Notre Dame’s offensive line success was in 2015, when it put out a starting lineup that consisted of three future first round picks (Stanley, Nelson, Mike McGlinchey), a second round pick (N. Martin) and a three-year starter (Steve Elmer) that would have been drafted had he not walked away from football following his junior season.
Number two on the list is Wisconsin, a program that produced 14 NFL offensive linemen since 2010.
Notre Dame returns all five of its starters from the 2019 season, so it will not be adding to its list in the upcoming draft. The rest of the rankings are 3) Florida 4) Alabama 5) Ohio State 6) USC 7) Oklahoma 8) Iowa 9) Texas A&M 10) Stanford.
Here’s the list of Notre Dame alums from the last decade:
Zack Martin (2014 first round, 94 starts, 4x All-Pro)
Quenton Nelson (2018 6th overall, 32 starts, 2x All-Pro)
Ronnie Stanley (2016 6th overall, 56 starts, All-Pro)
Mike McGlinchey (2018 9th overall, 28 starts)
Nick Martin (2016 second round, 46 starts)
Chris Watt (2014 third round, 8 starts)
Sam Young (2010 sixth round, 21 starts)
Trevor Robinson (2012 undrafted, 21 starts)
Eric Olsen (2010 sixth round, 4 starts)
Alex Bars (2019 undrafted)
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