No. 18 Notre Dame counting on young offensive line to grow into new roles quickly

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame’s young, inexperienced offensive line handled the hostile environment at Texas A&M just fine.

Then came the home opener everyone wants to forget — a 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois.

Two weeks into the season, the Fighting Irish (1-1) are languishing at No. 104 in total offense and while outsiders want to blame the linemen, coaches believe there’s plenty of blame to share.

“One play it’s a running back, one play it’s an offensive lineman, one play it’s a receiver, one play we’re not making the best decision with the football. We’re all taking turns,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “We have to get to the point where one by one, position group by position group, we eliminate ourselves from that equation.”

The reset begins Saturday when No. 18 Notre Dame renews its longtime in-state rivalry with a trip to Purdue (1-0), which had a bye last week.

And while Denbrock may be right about finding solutions at other positions, the focal point this week has been squarely on the group that has been in rebuild mode from the moment its top two linemen, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, left for the NFL. Losing Alt’s projected replacement at left tackle, Charles Jagusah, with a season-ending torn right pectoral muscle in August only made the task more challenging.

Right tackle Aamil Wagner, a third-year player, left guard Sam Pendleton, a second-year player, and left tackle Anthonie Knapp, a true freshman, each made their first college starts against the Aggies.

So the Irish are leaning heavily on center Ashton Craig and right guard Billy Schrauth, two third-year players, to help. And even though it may not appear the Irish made progress last week, coach Marcus Freeman saw something else.

“It might not look like it sometimes when you’re watching film, but they did a good job protecting the quarterback,” Freeman said. “We have to trust that they’re going to protect you around the edge, we’ve got to step up and make those throws. I thought they did a good job in the run game, too. There were a couple times we might have misidentified somebody or they rocked back and made a play in the run game. Overall, I thought our five offensive linemen, they played better Week 2 than they did Week 1.”

Experience isn’t the only obstacle Notre Dame is contending with.

Knapp acknowledges he’s not built like a traditional tackle so he’s trying to figure out how to gain the edge against experienced defensive linemen who may be bigger or faster than he’s accustomed to.

Northern Illinois was one example. The Huskies defense had nine returning starters and limited the Irish to 123 yards rushing and 163 yards passing while allowing two sacks. Quarterback Riley Leonard also threw two interceptions.

But Knapp isn’t making excuses. He’s simply trying to navigate the learning curve.

“I try to find every edge I can get,” Knapp said. “I’m not too big. I’m 290-ish, which isn’t the ideal size for a left tackle at Notre Dame. Any edge I can get watching film, a notebook full of what their moves are, what their tendencies are, I try to study that the best I can.”

Denbrock, like Freeman, saw progress last week.

And, like Freeman, Denbrock understands there’s more to Notre Dame’s woes than meets the eye. The Irish are one of five FBS teams with no TD passes through the first two weeks and there have been issues with route-running, pass protection, decision-making and drops — even if fans increasingly want to point to the linemen.

“It looks like a long and dusty trail right now, doesn’t it? There’s just such incredible inconsistency across the board,” Denbrock said. “I actually thought we made some progress up front. I thought our communication was better. I thought there were spots during the game where we started to feel ourselves as far as the dominant unit I feel those guys can develop into. That’s going to be a work in progress as we gain experience.”

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