Notre Dame's offensive line got off to a rough start to kick off the season, but has slowly progressed with each passing game. They currently rank No. 59 in the country in sacks allowed and No. 37 in the country in tackles for a loss allowed. Those numbers aren't ideal, but when you consider their opening performance against Miami, this unit is headed in the right direction.
One of the reasons for the beginnings of a turnaround has been the progression of redshirt freshman right guard Guerby Lambert who stepped into the starting lineup for the first time against the Hurricanes and has gotten better with every snap. There were some things he had to get adjusted to, one of them being the speed of the game when you get to this level in a meaningful matchup.
"It definitely happens fast right away,” Lamber explained. “The next play is up before you know it. You’ve just got to reload, have that mentality, just forget the next play and just move on. Coach Joe [Rudolph] was telling me, as a starter, your biggest leap is going to be from Week one to Week two. I feel like from the first week to the second week I was able to learn the speed of the game; now I can carry things on and just move forward."
The 6-7. 335-pound Boston native has improved significantly week over week and has looked like one of their more dominant offensive lineman, at times. Lambert will have to continue to ascend, but he's on the right track.
"Every week we try to improve in a certain area,” Lambert said. “I feel like I’ve definitely improved in the pass protection game, especially against Miami. We didn’t perform, or I didn’t perform well when it came to pass-pro. I think we are getting better, so far I’ve been doing a better job at that and I’m looking to improve more and more."
The Miami game was eye opening for Lambert, along with the rest of the offensive line. That poor performance has served as a chip on their shoulder, leading to the turn around they believe has occurred in the offensive line room.
"We definitely look back at that Miami game,” Lambert explained. “Every single play we wish we could take back. We say we never want to have that feeling again, so every single time, every single play we have to go with intent. We go with full effort."
With every young player, lessons are learned on any given snap and Lambert has learned that the best way to over come a mistake is to move on and focus on the next play. That lesson has been learned by every new comer in the starting lineup, offensively or defensively; the Massachusetts native has taken those lessons and applied them in practice and on the game field.
"I think it’s definitely a lot easier, especially coming from Miami,” Lambert stated. “After a bad play I would dwell on it. I think back to that third and one against Miami, I was just blowing that play. I thought about it throughout the entire game. Now, I can recognize that it was a bad play; you’ve got to move on."
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