Defining Notre Dame's O-line culture and what it means moving forward

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Still two months away from being able to climb the depth chart for the first time — presumably with a healthy left foot — Notre Dame freshman offensive guard Billy Schrauth pushes himself like it’s already happening.

Early enrolled in mid-January, undergoing surgery a few days later, unable to get medically cleared to do a single spring practice drill, Schrauth, undaunted, is mentally engaged in every facet of what unretired offensive line coach Harry Hiestand is teaching.

And then still wants more.

“On Saturdays, we’ll stay here ’til 4 p.m., watching film,” sixth-year offensive guard Josh Lugg said Thursday of the weekend practice sessions that typically end around 12:45. “And (Schrauth) is always sticking around. ‘Hey, can I watch with the 1s?’

“He has that desire to learn and get better. He’s powerful. He can keep up with the older guys in the weight room. He’s exciting to be around.”

You know that Irish offensive line culture you’ve heard so much about, both when Hiestand was at Notre Dame the first time (2012-17) and the one he reinstated when he walked back into the Guglielmino Athletics Complex in January?

This is what it looks like.

And it also looks like junior backup offensive tackle Tosh Baker surging like the prodigy he once was after COVID helped rob him of a full eight-month cycle in the weight room.

Like sophomore Rocco Spindler battling maniacally to overtake one of the two incumbents at offensive guard and with a realistic shot at it.

Like Zeke Correll having command at center, with fourth-year starter Jarrett Patterson out until fall camp, after struggling at guard last season and eventually losing his starting spot to Andrew Kristofic.

Like Dallas Cowboys All-Pro offensive guard Zack Martin, a former four-year ND starter at left tackle, spending a couple of days in South Bend working with the young ND linemen but also helping Lugg work out a long-time glitch with his backside leg.

“When he talks, you shut up,” Lugg said with a laugh. “Having all these guys back (Martin, Sam Mustipher, Quenton Nelson, etc.), our offensive line culture is so critical to our success. It’s what has made Notre Dame offensive linemen, Notre Dame offensive linemen.”

The parade of offensive lineman recruits checking out Notre Dame practices this spring are picking up in the message. Two more — 2023 four-star targets (Charles Jaguseh from Illinois and Sam Pendleton from North Carolina) will be in this weekend, while two others are confirmed for Blue-Gold Game weekend in two weeks (Monroe Freeling from South Carolina and Austin Siereveld from Ohio).

What they also see is Hiestand trying to transform a line that was 100th nationally last season in sacks allowed and part of a rushing offense that ranked 83rd into a Joe Moore Award contender.

Unfiltered and unvarnished.

“I think coach Hiestand recruits the right kind of guys that want to be coached like that,” Lugg said. “When they see his coaching, they should be salivating at the mouth. ‘I want that coach. I want to learn how these guys are learning.’

“It would be very fake of him to change his coaching to sound like, ‘Oh, this place is all great and like roses.’ You should recruit players who want to be coached by the style of his coaching, knowing that results will follow.”

The results this spring from the entire unit have been encouraging, per Hiestand, but far from where the Irish want to be when they open the season Sept. 3 against Ohio State at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Running with the 1s are sophomore tackles Blake Fisher (right) and Joe Alt (left), Lugg (right) and junior Kristofic (left) at guards and Correll at center until Patterson returns from his torn pectoral muscle.

“There’s not anything they can’t do,” Hiestand said. “It’s just our ability to do it, play in and play out needs a lot of work.

“There’s no – if you fix this, boy he’s special. It’s just kind of a little bit of everything, and that’s natural when they’re being asked to do things differently than they’ve been asked to do them before. So it’s an adjustment for them.”

Three more freshmen will join the group in June — tackles Aamil Wagner and Ty Chan and interior lineman Ashton Craig.

By then classmate Schrauth is expected to be cleared to go 100 percent.

“The thing about Billy is unbelievable,” Hiestand said. “He was here four days and he’s in major surgery and then he’s rolling around campus (in the) snow on this cart with his leg in the air, and gets stuck in the ice.

“And when you talk to him, he never has a bad day. Like he has every right to complain and say, ‘Woe is me. Why’d this happen to me?’ NEVER.

“We talked about that in the meeting the other day. You get banged up out here, you start feeling sorry for yourself. And I pointed out, have any of you ever seen Billy have a bad day?

“They’re like, ‘no.’ I said, ‘He has every right to have a bad day. He still should be in high school. He has a busted (foot) and he can’t do anything.’ And so he’s going to be really exciting to be around.

“Just anybody with an attitude like that when faced with major adversity — which is what it was — there’s something there that’s special. We’ll see, eventually.”

TANONA UPDATE: Fellow early enrolled freshman offensive guard Joey Tanona remains out with a concussion, that Hiestand revealed Thursday, occurred because of an auto accident.

Tanona’s mother had moved to South Bend, and his sister was driving him to an early morning workout at the Gug when a car slammed into the Tanonas’ car on the passenger side.

“Just really freak thing,” Hiestand said. “Scary. Blessing that he’s just dealing with what he’s dealing with, that it wasn’t worse. It was a terrible accident. I saw a picture of the car.

“He was asleep and reclining, which was probably a good thing, because he body was limp. And a car ran a red light and hit right where he was sitting, pretty close.”

Hiestand is uncertain whether Tanona will be cleared for practice work before the end of spring practice.

FINDING YOUR CENTER: Hiestand estimates it’s been two decades — Duke Preston at Illinois — since he had a starting center who played primarily center in high school. He almost always kas moved a tackle or guard inside.

So who makes the ideal candidate?

“ Normally, it’s a guy with football intelligence,” Heistand said. “It's like when you’re discussing football with them, they get it quickly. Some guys you have to explain it a little bit more to. So the center needs to be a guy who can transfer information quickly and make adjustments, make calls — see things.

“And the progression of learning how defenses align and what things they’re telling us and how we want to make our calls. When you’re struggling to get him to get that, it’s probably not a center

“Not everybody can do it. So it’s guys that just have a little bit extra football smarts and then they’ve got to be athletic enough.”

COVID AFTERSHOCKS: Baker wasn’t the only one set back by COVID itself and COVID restrictions. The whole freshman class of 2020 was, but director of football performance Matt Balis said Baker’s experience was more extreme than the others.

“When you’re redshirting and not playing, that stuff accumulates for them,” Hiestand said. “And then they’d get back and somebody would test positive and they’d sit in their room for two weeks. And you’re not allowed to do anything.

“So your body just — that group of guys were really affected by that, particularly linemen. That's so critical for your ability to go out and compete on the field is that strength training part that wasn’t happening for a year and a half with this thing.”

INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS?: The decision to have sophomore Blake Fisher play right tackle and sophomore Joe Alt to play left was largely the function of that’s where they last played when Hiestand took over for deposed line coach Jeff Quinn.

Fisher was the opening-night starter at left tackle, but suffered a long-term knee injury and didn’t play in a game again until Jan. 1, at which time Alt had established himself on the left side.

“They both have the size and range to play the edges on either side,” Heistand said. “Blake right now is more powerful as a run blocker, so some of the stuff we do to the right is a little different than what we do to the left. He’s just more powerful there.”

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