What's Next: Notre Dame Line Depth After John Olmstead's Transfer
Notre Dame sophomore guard John Olmstead announced he would be entering the transfer portal, a decision that is based on personal reasons that he did not elaborate on. Olmstead ranked as the nation's No. 118 overall player by Rivals while coming out of Metuchen (N.J.) St. Joseph's.
So what does that mean for the Notre Dame offensive line moving forward?
Olmstead is essentially a redshirt freshman, which means he still had four seasons of eligibility remaining. A guard for the Irish and a four-star recruit, Olmstead was buried on a deep and talented depth chart that is only going to get better with the recent commitment of Rocco Spindler, and the possibility that Top 100 recruit Blake Fisher could also end up inside.
While it's never good to lose a young and talented player, Olmstead is at a position where the depth is strong. The last decade has also shown that Notre Dame is a program that thrives on taking tackles and turning them into impactful interior players. Quenton Nelson, Alex Bars, Tommy Kraemer, Jarrett Patterson, Aaron Banks and Steve Elmer all either played tackle in high school or played tackle early in their careers at Notre Dame.
Looking at the depth chart in 2020, there wasn't any room for Olmstead to rise up the depth chart thanks to the return of Kraemer, Banks and Joshua Lugg, who can also play tackle. John Dirksen also returns after serving as a key back up in 2019. Notre Dame also returns starting center Jarrett Patterson and talented backups Zeke Correll and Colin Grunhard.
Looking at 2021 and beyond, Olmstead would have had an opportunity to battle for playing time, but even with him gone there is still plenty of talent returning to the interior of the line. Patterson, Correll, Dirksen, Spindler and Pat Coogan all have eligibility beyond the 2021 season. Current freshman Michael Carmody and 2021 commit Fisher also project as possible interior players, so Olmstead would have been in a fierce battle to get into the two-deep had he returned.
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