Building championship depth, Notre Dame's lines display early spring promise. Freeman sees significant development as the Irish focus on dominating the trenches.
Since the beginning, head coach Marcus Freeman has preached about being a line driven program. A common theme we've seen from previous national title winners and contenders was their ability to win in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Notre Dame is entering an offseason where they're one of the favorites to win a National Championship, have a preseason Heisman favorite returning under center and are one of two teams currently projected to go undefeated in the regular season.
For all of those things to happen, the Irish will need stout play along the offensive and defensive lines. So far this spring, their performance has not disappointed. They're finding continuity in the offensive line and are learning on the defensive side of the ball under new coach Charlie Partridge. Offensively, this group is finding it's groove so far in the 2026 offseason.
"We've been pretty consistent with who has been with the ones and who's been with the twos." Freeman explained. "Obviously, Will Back at left tackle, Anthonie Knapp at guard and Joe Otting at center. You have Guerby Lambert at right tackle and Sullivan Absher at right guard. Each group has done some really good things but there's consistency within the groups. You're not playing musical chairs within the group which has led to a lot of improvement."
For the first time in several off-seasons, there's a level of consistency within the offensive line group. They're a healthy unit, for the most part; center Ashton Craig is still working back from injury. But emerging players like Black at left tackle has helped shore up this very talented unit.
"He's doing a good job," Freeman explained "Will had a lot of hype coming into this program, and he got here in June and like any freshman he had a bumpy road that first year. His career will be bumpy but his ceiling is extremely high. he's doing a really good job at the left tackle position and he's going against really good players/ He's going to improve because he has to block Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore and some of those really good players every single day. That's going to make him be the best version of himself."
Going against players like Traore and Young on a daily basis would be a tough task for any redshirt freshman offensive lineman. But Black isn't the only player working hard against a stout defensive line. The trenches on defense for the Irish are developing at a rapid pace under Partridge. Freeman has been very high on how this unit has progressed so far throughout spring training.
"There's a whole list of guys that have done a really good job affecting the passer and it's not just the end position," Freeman shared. "It's not just Bryce and Keon Keeley. The defensive tackles on the inside have done a really good job understanding rush lanes and understanding how to play off each other which is so important. They've done a really good job getting internal pressure on the quarterback and are doing a good job on the edges."
Notre Dame is poised for a big season. They have some of the best odds to go undefeated in 2026 and are amongst the favorites to win the national title. For that to happen, success has to be driven along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The skilled talent on offense and defense are there; if the offensive and defensive lines play to their potential, this will be a very hard team to beat this fall.
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