It took 35 years from the time the NFL opened its doors to true juniors for an offensive lineman from Notre Dame to take the league up on it.
Actually, two did so in the current draft cycle that kicked off with the first round of the three-day, seven-round 2024 NFL Draft Thursday night in Detroit. One of them, watching remotely, Joe Alt, had a pretty short wait once the moment arrived.
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The 6-foot-8, 322-pound two-time All-American was the first of 12 Notre Dame draft hopefuls to come off the board, eight of whom are likely to eventually be drafted. The Los Angeles Chargers, with pick No. 5 in the first round, made Alt the highest-drafted Irish O-lineman to be selected since George Kunz going No. 2 overall to the Atlanta Falcons in 1969.
He was also the first offensive tackle selected in this draft, with three quarterbacks going 1-2-3 and Ohio State wide receiver being selected at No. 4. Alt is Notre Dame's first top five draft pick at any position since quarterback Rick Mirer was selected by Seattle at No. 2 overall.
The former three-star recruit becomes the 11th protege of retired Notre Dame offensive line coaching icon Harry Hiestand to be drafted since 2014, and joins Quenton Nelson (2018), Mike McGlinchey (2018), Ronnie Stanley (2016) and Zack Martin (2014) as first-rounders from that group.
Alt actually played for three different offensive line coaches in his three seasons at Notre Dame — Jeff Quinn, who recruited him, Hiestand, and current Irish O-line coach Joe Rudolph. As did fellow early entry offensive tackle Blake Fisher, whose draft equity projects a call as early as day 2, when rounds 2-3 of the draft are held on Friday (7 p.m. EDT).
The draft concludes with rounds 4-7 on Saturday (noon EDT), after which many rookie free agents will be signed and brought into mini-camps.
“It was a long thought process for me,” Alt said of his decision to become an early entry. “I did a lot of consideration with my father and how he did it and what we talked about. I said, ‘I feel like I had a calling from God and was put in this position,’ so I had to take advantage of that and listen to the calling and move on to the next step.”
Alt’s father, John, an offensive lineman at Iowa, was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 1984 NFL Draft. His brother Mark was an NHL Draft pick of the Carolina Hurricane in 2010, but didn’t sign professionally until 2013 with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Alt was not offered a scholarship out of Totino-Grace High School in Fridley. Minn., by L.A. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who was the head coach at the University of Michigan at the time, but Alt said the two hit it off during a meeting at the NFL Combine at Indianapolis in early March.
“It was awesome," Alt said last month. "The little I’ve met and got to know him, he’s a great guy. It was a really fun interview.”
Alt was a unanimous All-American in 2023 after making several first teams as a sophomore in 2022, including the Associated Press All-America team. In 2023, he was a Lombardy and Outland award finalist, and the Irish offensive line as a while was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award.
Alt came to Notre Dame in the summer of 2021 and started that season as a niche player — an extra blocker with a tight end number when the Irish wanted to go to power packages. Classmate and teammate Fisher, meanwhile, became the first Notre Dame player ever to start a game at left tackle as a freshman and the eighth freshman to start a game at any of the offensive line positions.
But he went out with a knee injury in the season opener at Florida State on Labor Day weekend. Alt was the fourth player then-head coach Brian Kelly tried at the position that season. And in game 6, he became the ninth ND freshman to start a game on the offensive line and the second to start at left tackle.
He didn’t leave the lineup until opting out of the Dec. 29 Sun Bowl matchup with Oregon State. Even when Fisher returned from injury in 2021 for the Fiesta Bowl at season’s end, Alt remained the left tackle and Fisher, a former five-star prospect, became the new right tackle.
According to Pro Football Focus Alt allowed only four sacks in his Notre Dame career that included 33 straight starts. Three of those sacks came as a freshman in 2021. He was credited with allowing one against Louisville in 2023.
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