Notebook: Notre Dame's offensive line competitions are just getting started

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Joe Rudolph proved in his first season as Notre Dame’s offensive line coach that he’s not afraid to make changes from spring practice to preseason camp.

At this time last year, Andrew Kristofic and Michael Carmody were taking first-team reps at Notre Dame’s offensive guard positions. Neither of them started a game last season.

Billy Schrauth ended last spring replacing Carmody on the unit. He didn’t make his first start until mid-November when an injury to right guard Rocco Spindler made room for him in the lineup.

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So don’t put too much stock in the fact that Notre Dame used the same first-team offensive line in each of its first two spring practices: left tackle Charles Jagusah, left guard Pat Coogan, center Ashton Craig, right guard Schrauth and right tackle Tosh Baker.

“I think the great part is — like if we're doing our job,” Rudolph said, “then these guys will continue to raise the bar of ‘Who has the best pass set? What’s our best drive block? What’s the best we can fit a deuce? How do we best protect when we're manned up?’

“And I think that's why you have the team, and that's why you battle position groups. When they're competing and helping each other to get better, that’s the value of having a great room. A great room helps each other get better. That’s what I appreciate about a group of guys. So that'll always be valued, how they perform, how they continue to grow.”

Even guessing who is safest in a projected starting role feels like a bit of a crapshoot. Perhaps that belongs to Craig at center, who started the last three games of the season following an injury to Zeke Correll and gave the coaching staff the confidence to move on from the 31-game starter, who transferred to NC State in the offseason.

Craig, a 6-foot-4, 308-pound junior, played his first meaningful reps in the Clemson game after both Correll and Kristofic, the first choice as a center replacement, were injured during the first three quarters. He didn’t flinch in the moment.

“When I looked at him,” Rudolph recalled of the Clemson game, “I go, ‘You’re ready.’ And he goes, ‘I know.’

“And I said, ‘OK, let’s go.’

“It was like he knew he was ready. He knew he had some opportunities early where he hadn’t been that ‘best him’ and he was excited to go, put that on the film, and go play with his guys.”

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Craig showed his smarts in manning the position to close out the season even when working alongside inexperienced classmate Schrauth, who also made his first career starts in the final three games. Schrauth lost the preseason guard competitions to Coogan and Spindler.

But Schrauth, who came to Notre Dame ranked by Rivals as the No. 3 offensive guard in the 2022 class, stayed motivated to prepare himself for his opportunity.

“When Rocco and Pat started, they were better and that’s why they played,” Rudolph said. “It doesn't mean that's the end of the world for anybody else. You just continue. It's part of your story. It's part of your journey and you gain strength from that.

“When Billy had a chance to go back in there and play, like he played exceptionally well. And that's a great credit. And he was excited about being able to get out there.”

Spindler is fighting to get his starting spot back, but he’s been working behind Schrauth in the first two practices. But Spindler’s not quite 100% back to his old self following surgery on his MCL.

“It’s been amazing the way he’s worked to get himself back at the beginning of this spring,” Rudolph said. “We weren’t sure if he would have him at all or limited, and I would say he’s playing — I don’t know if it’s 90% but he’s doing most everything. We’re trying to be smart on a couple issues.”

Coogan, who made his first career start in the Dublin season opener as a junior, ended up being the only offensive lineman to start all 13 games, a stat aided by the fact that tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher opted to sit out the Sun Bowl.

The 6-5, 302-pound Coogan has clear directives on what he needs to improve to fend off any competition that could push him to the bench.

“We talked for him about his biggest improvement, more than anything, needed to be making gains in the weight room, and then transferring that strength to the field,” Rudolph said. “I think he's really done that. He's really proud of the growth he's taken in there. They've done a great job with him helping him to make those strides.

“And then you see it now he's starting to trust it, and it's early in spring, but that's the early thing that I see.”

Jagusah didn’t even get a full offseason to prepare to fill the shoes of unanimous All-America left tackle Joe Alt. Jagusah’s first game appearance came late in the regular season finale at Stanford. He finished his freshman season starting in Alt’s abandoned post in the Sun Bowl.

Even though Jagusah came to Notre Dame with a higher overall ranking than the other Irish offensive linemen in his class, he was asked to make a leap that was substantial by any measure. As soon as he was presented the chance to step up into a starting role, he did so with confidence.

“He came out and practiced his tail off for the first two days,” Rudolph said, “and I thought he practiced exceptionally well, which probably led to what [head] coach [Marcus] Freeman said about him being one of the guys. He came out and worked that way.

“And then in the game, sometimes you get into a game, in your growth experience, guys will practice better than they play. Most guys, you should practice better, because it's more controlled. But I thought he really did carry over a lot of his practice traits to the game.”

When the 6-7, 329-pound Jagusah doesn’t play with confidence, it can slow him down, and he’s not as firm with his blocks. But he’s such a student of the game that he should always have a good sense of what to do next.

“He's very conscientious about the communication, the detail, the footwork, his schoolwork, whatever he's doing,” Rudolph said. “He's got a really good feeling for the mental aspect of how it all fits and how it applies. But some guys, when they get that, things go slow for them when they're on the field. He’s able to understand it to that level and still kind of play fast.”

Rudolph sees the tools that led Baker into the starting left tackle spot in 2021 before Alt. But Baker lost his job due to a concussion and never found his way back into the same role.

Baker served as Alt’s backup the last two seasons, but he moved over to right tackle for the Sun Bowl to play as a true starter for the first time since Sept. 25, 2021. It didn’t matter much to Rudolph that Baker spent the majority of 34 consecutive games on the bench. Baker did start the Ohio State game last season as an extra tackle lined up as a tight end, but he only played seven offensive snaps that night.

“I mean, Joe Alt was out there wearing size 16 shoes and catching passes midway through his [high school] senior year. So I don’t worry about what they’ve done in the past,” Rudolph said. “I think the athleticism part is what stands out to me in that conversation, not the lack of anything else.

"But much like Pat, weight room is a huge area for him. He’s made a lot of gains over where we finished the season, to the work he put in there up until the bowl game, and then the work from then until now. That's gotta really show up, and I think it has been showing up but has to continue. That doesn’t and that won't stop now.”

The 6-8, 321-pound Baker was once a basketball player at Phoenix Pinnacle. Rivals ranked him as the No. 13 offensive tackle in the 2020 class. The Irish need him to live up to that projection to close out his career.

“Tosh has all the tools and all the ability to kind of be that best him in the moment,” Rudolph said. “And when there are moments when he feels a little bit cautious is when he'll show up the same way [as Jagusah]. He'll give up a little bit too [much] ground and not play as powerful as he can.”

As Aamil Wagner approaches his third season as a Notre Dame offensive lineman, the backup tackle still hasn’t physically grown into a prototypical player at his position. At 6-6 and 281 pounds, Wagner is closer in weight to freshman defensive ends Cole Mullins (244) and Bryce Young (246) than to Baker (321).

But what’s keeping Wagner from pushing into the starting lineup isn’t solely his weight.

“Everyone has a different playing weight where they're at their best,” Rudolph said. “We'd both like to see him be a little bit more solid and where he's getting to, and he's getting there. He's made the most strides since he's got here. He's made dramatic strides, but he's close, and he's still kind of closing the gap on it.

“But I like the way he plays. He's shown he doesn't need to be a 315-pound guy to play really, really well. He's got great power, great strength, great length, and I don't think he will be a guy that ever plays at that weight. But he might be 28 when he is that weight. But while he's here, he's getting really close to that weight where we need him to be at and to be able to be consistent and stay healthy out there.”

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