The Notre Dame offensive line is unsettled, battles will ensue the rest of Fall camp

Notre Dame opened up their Fall practice on Wednesday, meaning we are just a month away from the Irish team kicking off the 2024 college football season. The best part of camp is seeing the players compete, and see how position battles shake out. Some of the best battles are happening up front on the offensive line.

During the media availability following the first practice, head coach Marcus Freeman backed up that competition. Perhaps the biggest battle is between Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan, who are fighting to be the starting left guard for the team. Sophomore Sullivan Absher has also seen reps on there, and could be a major player to watch during the course of Fall camp.

“I think yes, there's ongoing competition on the offensive line,” Coach Freeman told the media. “The offensive line positions, especially with Rocco and Coogan, and some of the guards. We still have an identity on offense and it is still being able to run the ball. We have to be able to run the ball. And one of the challenges we've had for all this line is to create a new line of scrimmage. We want to play football on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage. So that's what I want to see more than anything, whether we get movement against our defensive line.

“I feel like if we have the ability to do that we'll be able to get moving on any defense line we play, but that's the challenge,” Freeman continued. “That's the mindset of challengers so we have to be able to create movement in the run game to make sure we can run the ball effectively and the second part will be to protect the quarterback. We have to protect the quarterback. We know that but the mindset of this offense will be that we have to be able to move the ball and run it.”

There is also a battle ensuing at right tackle. It is going between graduate student Tosh Baker and junior Aamil Wagner. Somewhat surprisingly, Wagner garnered the first team reps on day one. It will be interesting to see how that battle ensues. The Irish staff is taking this process day-by-day.

“You just isolate every player during practice, evaluate it for what it is and you continue to find ways to improve,” Coach Freeman explained. “I have a lot of confidence in what our offensive line is going to be able to do. They weren’t as sharp as iron and so if you're going against a really deep defensive line, and also an experienced defensive line and defense that is running a lot of pressures early in practice and stuff like that, you got to know that it's going to make them better. And so this is a journey to get ready for the season. I'm very confident in the play of our offensive line.”

While everyone is going to hyperfocus about the skill position players, how good this offense will be in 2024 may be determined by how dominant they are up front. The battles are ensuing, and should be monitored closely. The offensive line is clearly not settled leaving the first day.