Anthonie Knapp gives Joe Rudolph his first Notre Dame OL commitment
When Anthonie Knapp visited Virginia Tech in January, the 2024 offensive line recruit spent time with offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.
Then when Knapp visited Notre Dame last Friday, Knapp spent more time with Rudolph, who left the Hokies in late February to coach the Irish offensive line.
The two plan to spend much more time together in the coming years. On Wednesday, the 6-foot-4, 270-pound Knapp announced his verbal commitment to Notre Dame.
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Knapp, a junior at Roswell (Ga.) High received his Notre Dame scholarship offer from Rudolph during Friday’s visit.
“The hospitality and the heritage it kept made the school stand out,” Knapp told Inside ND Sports in a text message.
Rudolph made his first mark on the recruiting trail for Notre Dame by adding Knapp to the Irish 2024 class which now includes nine verbal commitments and is ranked by Rivals as third-best in the country behind first-place Georgia (11 commits) and LSU (11). Knapp joined four-star guard Peter Jones on the offensive line in the class.
Thanks to Rudolph, Virginia Tech became the first Power Five program to offer Knapp in October. Knapp called Rudolph “very important” to his recruiting process as they’ve been in communication for nearly a year.
Knapp wrapped up his recruitment after making visits to Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Duke, NC State, North Carolina, Penn State and Notre Dame since the start of 2023. All of those schools appeared on his offer list of 20-plus football programs.
Rivals has yet to assign a star rating to Knapp.
“Knapp is one of those guys you want on your team, a guy defenders do not want to face,” said Rivals national recruiting analyst Ryan Wright. “With each snap, Knapp attacks the play like it is his last with one goal, to dominate the opposition. Knapp is a tone setter and a knockdown artist.
“The rising junior has good footwork and a nice punch. He will need to add 30 pounds of good weight to his frame before he will be able to contribute at the next level. An offensive tackle for his Roswell team, projects as an interior lineman, especially early, in college."
Roswell offensive line coach Vince Vance, a former Georgia offensive lineman, has been working with Knapp for the better part of three years at the high school and as a private offensive line trainer. He's seen him grow from a 210-pound tight end/outside linebacker to a physical offensive tackle.
"As an offensive line coach, the way I was coached and the way that I coached my guys, physicality is the name of the game," Vance said. "We’re going to dominate everybody that we play. If you line up in front of us, the name of the game is to dominate you and put you in the ground. And he took it serious (laughs).
"I can preach it and teach it, but they have to do it. He’s been one of my better ones over the 10 years I’ve been doing this."
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