After years of injury-driven shuffling, a seasoned interior rotation headlined by Anthonie Knapp and Sullivan Absher finally offers the Irish offensive line elite stability and championship potential.
Over the last two seasons, we've seen some shuffling along Notre Dame's interior offensive line, in large part due to injuries. In 2024, they started the season with redshirt freshman Sam Pendleton at left guard, Ashton Craig at center and Billy Schrauth at right guard. As the season went on, Schrauth got injured which paved the way for Rocco Spindler to step in at right guard and when Schrauth was healthy, he replaced Pendleton at left guard. In that time, Craig was injured and lost for the season paving the way for Pat Coogan to step into the starting lineup.
In the post season, Notre Dame lost Spindler for the second half of the Penn State game which inserted Charles Jagusah in to finish the rest of the game. But an injury to left tackle Anthonie Knapp forced Jagusah to start at left tackle in the national title game against Ohio State and Spindler returned healthy for the final game of the season. All of that happened just in 2024.
This past season, redshirt freshman Guerby Lambert stepped in at right guard after some offseason portal entries. Craig started the season healthy at center but was injured after their sixth game of the year and was lost for the season paving the way for Joe Otting to step in at center. Schrauth returned at left guard and was named a captain. He was playing some of the best football of his career before injuring his MCL against USC and he sat for the remainder of the season which caused Sullivan Absher to step into the starting lineup.
Now, looking at the lineup this spring, the interior of the offensive line looks to be Knapp at left guard, Otting at center until Craig returns from injury and Absher at right guard since Lambert was bumped out to right tackle. This has the potential to be the most consistent the interior of the offensive line has been in the last several seasons and their ceiling is high.
Knapp has started 27 games at Notre Dame and only missed one start during his true freshman season against the Buckeyes. The Georgia native will be replacing Schrauth which are big shoes to fill. He was a 5th-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and if it weren't for the injuries, Schrauth would have went much higher in the draft. The last two seasons, Schrauth only allowed one sack and one hit on the quarterback and those came in separate games. The 6-4, 310-pound guard didn't allow a single pressure in the final three playoff games against Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State.
Thankfully, Knapp will be stepping into a position he's more naturally poised to play and has a very limited injury history. He missed the championship game in 2024 with an ankle injury, but that didn't plague him moving forward. His emergence at left guard is a major reason why many, myself included, feel great about this upcoming season.
Absher is a player who grew immensely over the spring. We talked previously about his emergence along the offensive line and what it could mean for Joe Rudolph's unit. Some believe that he's just a 'placeholder' until Jagusah is healthy. But the fact of the matter is that Absher's five career regular season starts are five more starts than what Jagusah has in the regular season. Ideally, he comes back healthy and that's a legitimate conversation we have in October or November. But in the meantime, the position is Absher's and he's making the most of his opportunity.
Just due to the level of potential consistency alone, this has the opportunity to be Notre Dame's best interior offensive guard lineup in quite some time. When fully healthy, the duo of Spindler and Schrauth 100% healthy was really strong, but we hardly ever saw them on the field together when they were both 100% healthy. Knapp and Absher could be that duo this upcoming season, and they'll need to be if Notre Dame wishes to make a run at a title.
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