Notre Dame Offense Trying To Find The Right Guard

Among all the more high profile position battles this August in Notre Dame’s preseason camp for a full-time starter — quarterback, Will linebacker, left cornerback… — none actually seems to have more candidates for one spot than the right guard on offense.

While four of the five positions along the offensive line basically were secured last spring, the right guard spot vacated by 30-game starter Steve Elmer has already seen four people auditioning for the role in the first week.

In the opening practice last Saturday, open to the media, senior Hunter Bivin took the reps with the first unit, while freshman Tommy Kraemer worked behind him.

However, this Thursday morning (the second session open to the media) saw sophomore Tristen Hoge taking snaps with the first unit, with senior Colin McGovern pushing for similar reps behind him.

The ability to cross-train is all but mandatory to fifth-year offensive line coach Harry Hiestand and it is being used to its full capacity at right guard. Bivin has worked at both right guard and tackle — he lined up as the No. 2 left tackle on Thursday behind senior stalwart Mike McGlinchey — while classmate McGovern has also been the backup to junior Alex Bars at right tackle.

Hoge has been apprenticing behind junior Sam Mustipher at center. Hoge did get a brief audition at right guard in the spring, but in Thursday’s practice he demonstrated a more serious candidacy for the starting role there. If he proves to be the fifth best offensive lineman on the team, he will be the starter there while still also the second option at center, if needed.

Continuity will have to wait for now at right guard while Hiestand and head coach Brian Kelly figure out whether Bivin, McGovern or Hoge provides the best all-around package there.

“We don’t want to just put one guy [at right guard], because they’ve got to play another position as well,” Kelly said. “That’s why we’re rotating all three of them, and it’s going to take a little longer to do it that way, but we don’t want to take them away from their other position that they have to hold down as well.”

In other words, it’s important that Hoge still takes reps as the No. 2 center to better master that position. Meanwhile, Bivin and McGovern must be prepared to play tackle in case of injury, so receiving reps there is also vital.

As for Kraemer, it’s extremely difficult for any offensive lineman to start as a freshman, and Hiestand’s general rule with first-year players is either you’re a starter or you will redshirt. Of the 28 offensive linemen signed at Notre Dame since 2008, 26 were redshirted as freshmen, including recent first-round picks such as Zack Martin and Ronnie Stanley, plus McGlinchey and even five-star left guard Quenton Nelson. The two exceptions were both early entrants: Trevor Robinson in 2008 (three starts) and Elmer in 2013 (four starts). Kraemer was not an early entrant this spring.

The right guard position reflects the overall offense at this point.

“There’s a lot of moving parts,” Kelly said. “.., It’s just going to take some time for it all to jell, and it’s not going to be in Game 1. This offense will be productive and will get better as the season progresses.”

Hoge has become a candidate as the starter because of his athletic skills as a pulling guard.

“We run a lot of pull game,” Kelly said. “In 2012, we were strictly an inside and outside zone team. The [Mike] Golic kid — big kid, didn’t move great, but he was physical as heck [at right guard]. He would knock you in the mouth and he would be a great fit in that kind of offense.

“This offense requires more of a puller, a guy that can get out in space and Tristen can do that, Colin can do that. Even Hunter can do that, he’s pretty athletic. We’ve changed the nature of the guard position. He’s got to be a guy that can get out and run.”

Kelly isn’t saying Bivin is more like Golic with his physical style but noted “those other two guys are moving really well.”

One way or another, Hiestand and Kelly expect to find the right guard in 2016, literally and figuratively.

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