If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed that Notre Dame’s offensive line situation was no secret.
The Irish will start true freshman Anthonie Knapp and redshirt freshman Sam Pendleton on the left side of the line on Saturday night at Texas A&M, meaning Notre Dame will have a total of six starts on the offensive line before the game.
It’s a bold move, but one that was already apparent, with Tosh Baker quickly replacing Knapp as left tackle, while Pendleton has worked with the first team for an extended period of time despite the return of Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler.
Sure, Notre Dame offensive line coach Joe Rudolph was bold a few days after Charles Jagusah went down when he said the staff had confidence in Baker. But life changes quickly, and Knapp has earned the staff’s trust during training camp.
Freeman has preached competition since day one of succeeding Brian Kelly, and he is a prime example of a man who evolves and embraces competition.
“I think you make decisions in the moment based on past experience and that’s the beautiful part of training,” Freeman explained. “There’s competition. I tell these guys every day, ‘You should try to take somebody’s job away, and if you’re a starter, you should know every day that the guys behind you are trying to take your job away.’
“Since then, we’ve practiced 10 times and basically come to the conclusion that Anthonie Knapp is going to be our left tackle. He’s worked tirelessly. He’s done a really good job of building the trust of his coaching staff and that’s why we made that decision.”
Although Pendleton began training camp as the No. 2 center behind Ashton Craig, his work as a backup gave him the opportunity to compete for another job, and he took full advantage of that opportunity.
“It’s just about consistency in doing the job that’s expected of you over and over again, and that’s why you make decisions,” Freeman explained. “It’s not an overnight thing, and it’s not a last year thing. It’s a matter of, ‘Okay, who do we think has shown over and over again in practice that they get the job done?’
“That’s why we made those decisions. We have a lot of confidence in the two players on our attack line. There are experienced guys in the second line, but at the end of the day you have to make a decision on who that first group is going to be, and Anthonie and Sam are two guys we thought gave us the best chance of success.”
If the left side wasn’t a question mark, the focus would be on the right side, as Notre Dame will start with Aamil Wagner at right tackle, who has only appeared in seven games as a backup in his career.
The first-time starter had a strong training camp and Freeman is fully confident that Wagner will be ready for his expanded role.
“Aamil has done a really great job from the beginning of camp to now,” Freeman said. “He’s been really consistent. He and Billy (Schrauth) have a good camaraderie on the right side.”
While Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is excited to unleash one of the best defensive lines in the country on Notre Dame’s inexperienced offensive line, he also knows that the Irish have recruited better at the position than anyone else in recent years.
“I probably think about it a little differently than you do,” Elko said. “Notre Dame has been recruiting offensive linemen really well for a very long time. If they have young players in the starting lineup, that probably means they’re NFL draft picks.”
“The six starts in the opening game alone might pose some problems for them, but I’m sure these young guys they’re putting on the field for the first time are extremely talented. That’s why they’ve secured the starting spots. That’s how we’re preparing, anyway. We’re preparing for a typical Notre Dame offensive lineman who’s going to be really big and really talented. I think they’ve been a finalist for the Joe Moore Award more times than not over the last eight years.”
As for Schrauth and his classmate Ashton Craig at center, they are the only starters on the offensive line to have worn blue and gold for the Irish.
Freeman believes that the two Notre Dame players will use their size and strength to give them a powerful punch up the middle, something the Irish have not always been able to do on the inside.
“I think what Billy and Ashton do really well is they’re powerful people,” Freeman said. “The things you ask your center to do are different than the guard in terms of some of the recognition, calls and checks he has to make.
“Ashton is extremely intelligent and he’s really good with some of his calls and stuff. He’s been consistent on his snaps, but the power. Those two are strong individual players. They like to create a new line of attack on the other side of the ball. That’s something that’s going to be necessary to be successful in the run and pass game.”
Want to join a Fighting Irish community and get the latest information? Sign up for our newsletter and become an ISD Premium Subscriber: Sign up for ISD
Under Armour – Notre Dame Fighting Irish Infinite Elite – Running Shoes in White
