Notre Dame’s offensive line was the center of attention after left tackle Charles Jagusah was injured just days into the season’s practice.
The left tackle spot was a concern, but then Joe Rudolph moved a true freshman, Anthonie Knapp, to the first unit last week after praising Tosh Baker days earlier. That wasn’t the only change, as sophomore Sam Pendleton was moved to the left guard spot, ahead of seasoned veterans Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler.
Marcus Freeman clarified that the team has not yet decided who will start at Texas A&M in two weeks, but it appears that Knapp and Pendleton are on the rise.
“We haven’t named a starting offensive lineman yet, but we will at some point,” Freeman explained. “We’ll have to do it soon, but what they’ve done is they’ve created a lot of confidence in the offensive coordinator and the offensive line coach with what they’ve done with their reps. I don’t care if it was with the 1s or the 2s. We want our guys to know that we’re evaluating everything they do.”
“The challenge now is that if you’re young and you’re doing a really good job with the 2s, we need to put you with the 1s. We need to see what you can do against our best guys and that’s what we did and those two did an incredible job.”
Coogan and Spindler have played 38 games together, while Pendleton has only played in two games and only 15 snaps.
A youth movement is nothing unusual in college football, but it’s a bold move considering Notre Dame has some experience at the guard position, and perhaps even bolder considering Kyle Field is arguably the toughest place to play in the country.
You can choose any combination of players you want, as the balance between experience and potential is an endless debate. Ultimately, Notre Dame will play the players they can trust.
“It’s almost like having your own kids,” said Mike Denbrock, the Irish’s offensive coordinator. “Do you trust them to be themselves at some point? Are you ready for that? Or do you hold on and say maybe this isn’t the best place to be. Those are tough decisions within the family and obviously trying to build an offensive line that can compete with our opponent in week one and all the opponents that follow and be the kind of force that we need from that group. Those aren’t easy scenarios for sure.”
“We’re trying to work through it and make the best decision that’s best for the football team.”
The other part is Denbrock’s belief that Knapp and Pendleton have earned their chance to be in the starting lineup.
“They consistently perform at their best by stringing together multiple periods of play, multiple reps, multiple days,” Denbrock explained. “It’s not something we reward them with. They’ve earned opportunities to prove themselves against what our defense can throw at us. We’ll make our final decisions and evaluations based on that.”
“It’s because of the work they’ve done, the consistency they’ve shown and the skills they’ve openly demonstrated that have enabled them to do this.”
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Notre Dame essentially put its stamp on preseason practice on Saturday with the uniform scrimmage game that the offense won 42-40 and included some of the sounds that will be heard at Kyle Field on Aug. 31.
Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden were more than pleased with the quality of work the Irish showed at Notre Dame Stadium, as the program took a business-like approach for most of the day.
“It was a really mature scrimmage,” Golden said. “There wasn’t a lot of bullshit. It was just really mature. It was clean. The guys were flying around and executing. Wins on both sides. It was fun to watch both sides.”
The Notre Dame head coach was pleased with his team’s response to the bell. Freeman urged both sides to start quickly, emphasizing various details that were brought up at different points throughout the day.
“It’s the opening drive,” Freeman explained. “Can I get a first down and keep the drive going? Or can the defense get a three-and-out, which is really hard. The offense was able to get nine first downs on that opening drive, and the defense stopped them – had three three-and-outs.
Then the other keys – turnovers. The defense forced two turnovers, but the positive is it wasn’t 1s or 2s. It was 3s. We’re going to need everybody, so I don’t want to pretend it’s not important, but, man, it was really, really – the best uniformed scrimmage I’ve ever been a part of. Seeing two groups really battle it out for the entire scrimmage.”
Denbrock was not so happy and that is a good sign.
Notre Dame’s offense faces the challenge of raising its level of play after several years of mediocrity, and Denbrock has been tasked with changing that. Barring a perfect practice game, Denbrock’s job is to be dissatisfied with the performance as he tries to continue to push the offense to new levels.
“I’m really hard to please, so to be honest, I didn’t really like it,” Denbrock explained. “You know what the score was (42-40)? If you asked me if we had played the way we can, I would have liked a little bigger lead. But there are still a lot of things we need to work on and work through. I’m not going to sit here and say we’re a finished product in any way.
“We’re constantly getting better. The faster we can accelerate that process, the better. Today, 42:40 to me means something like, ‘Yeah, we won 50 percent of the time and 50 percent of the time we weren’t so successful, so we need to go back, analyze the tape, learn from our mistakes and correct it so it won’t be so close next time.'”
And Denbrock knows what it takes to take a college football offense to an elite level like he did a year ago.
Denbrock has made it his mission to question his players about every detail during practice, and while it may not be pleasant at times, it is done sincerely because he cares not only about his players, but also about Notre Dame.
“I hope that through the way I coach, they feel how important not only they are to me, but also how important this university and this football program are to me,” Denbrock said. “That’s what really moves me. It’s a passion to help them get better.”
“Sometimes it’s a little bit direct, but just like I needed it as a young person, sometimes I needed to be steered back in the right direction. Hopefully they understand that it’s coming from a good place and they’ve done a great job of that.”
Golden, who has stopped some of the most explosive offenses in the country, has noticed Denbrock’s coaching style paying off, but also an increase in talent on the other side of the football.
“They’re doing a great job,” Golden said. “They have a quarterback who can distribute or release with his legs, which is a really great place to be. Everyone talks about Mitch (Evans), but the other two tight ends behind him have made great strides. Now suddenly there are different combinations that can come into play. I love our running back corps. Different combinations of wide receivers in the game.
“All of that combined, if you will, presents a big challenge. It’s not like we have to take away Mitch or Beaux (Collins) or focus on Jeremiyah (Love). It’s not because Riley (Leonard) can then catch you with his feet. I love the system.”
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