WSBT Wrap: Notre Dame chooses inexperienced offensive line to start 2024 season

hello everyone we are just five days away from a new season of Notre Dame football I'm Pete burn joined by Tyler James co-publisher of inside ND Sports and every week throughout the season we're going to be bringing you content every Monday following Marcus Freeman's press conferences letting you know what he had to say talking about some of the Hot Topics heading in each average football game and we will continue to partner with each other as we did a year ago bringing you content on air and online throughout the season covering Notre Dame football as completely as anyone in the market Tyler huge game for the Irish the season open is always very exciting we've been looking forward to it for a long time but Notre Dame goes into a hostile environment against the top 20 Texas A&M team and we found out today they're going to do it with a couple of firsttime starters on the offensive line yeah the left side of the offensive line making their debuts as starter freshman uh Anthony Napp at left tackle would just be the third freshman offensive lineman to start in a season open for another day I think in program history at least since 1972 uh when they brought freshman eligibility back so uh quite the task for him Sam Pendleton a sophomore will be starting next to him and then we've been talking about the left side so much right tackle em Wagner be making his first career start as well so only six starts amongst the starting five uh to their careers and those came the last three games of last season for both Billy stra at Right Guard and Center Ashton Craig so very in inexperienced offensive line obviously the coaching staff has a lot of faith in their talent and their ability and that is one out over some of the more experienced guys on under's offensive line they're going to be going up against a very talented defensive line and Marcus Freeman was quick to point point out well they go against our dline every day and our d line is pretty good too so there's that but they're also going into a loud hostile environment and I think sometimes just communication snap count things like that those those are among the most important and sometimes overlooked potential problems in a game like this yeah I mean we even saw in some of the practices some guys jumping off sides when there's not much crowd noise so you got to be on the same page with that that's a big thing with the offensive line that's maybe a bigger concern given how much moving around they've done with this offensive line that they don't have that chemistry of as a unit that start started preseason camp and has gone through everything together um but we'll see how they do that and obviously it's affects more than just the offensive line too the receivers the running backs quarterback Ry Leonard especially make sure he gets the signals out to everyone so um a lot of moving pieces on this offense going into a hostile environment against a a talented defense and Mike Elco uh as a head coach who has plenty of defensive experience so it definitely be a test and we'll we'll get a sense of what this offense is and then maybe a sense of what it will become as the season goes along that's the dangerous part of it I guess the other side of the coin is that you got pretty two experienced guys sitting behind them should for whatever reason they not quite be up to the task in that environment it's it's not like there are other freshman that aren't as good behind them yeah the offensive line does have depth now in terms of guys that have have played we talk about Pat kugan and Roco Spindler guys that were the starting left and right guards for most of last season cougan started the whole season uh Spindler only missed the last three because of injury uh TSH Baker obviously has been here a while he's a graduate student so some guys that can help those guys along you you you hope that those guys have taken the the competition losses well and are still helping them as Leaders um and that should be very valuable and yeah I think as guys coming off the bench maybe they can acclimate to that if if they're thrown in that situation maybe better than a young guy can and even if they do handle it well one thing that we should talk about is the fact that it's going to be really hot down there and as a precursor it's hot here in South Bend this week which Marcus Freeman is very glad about because he says it's going to give his guys a chance to acclimate they've talked about it they've practiced it now they actually get to feel it yeah as you can tell from our glistening foreheads it's it's a bit hot here here today at South Bend uh he said he thinks Tuesday night when they're practicing it'll be probably hotter than it will be Saturday night in College Station when another day in plays at Texas A&M so sort of a last minute test of how they can hold up against the Heat I think the the downside is that you got to make sure you don't wear yourself out this week by the time you get down to Texas A&M so they'll have to be able to make sure that they're both testing themselves and not overworking themselves going into what should be a pretty hot and human atmosphere at Kyle Field yeah my hunch is that they'll have some hard intentional practice practices early in the week and then dial it back pretty significantly to to the extent where you're looking at you know glorified walkthroughs I'm going to ask you a question that I asked Marcus Freeman he didn't really take de bait on this um but you're going into a you're you're on prime time you're the college Game Day game on week one you're Notre Dame you're taking on a top 20 team you're going into one of the loudest stadiums in the country to me this feels like a huge tone Setter for the season as this team looks to to lock up not only a playoff spot but I think ideally you'd like to be in that top eight and host a playoff game in this Stadium in December so from your standpoint how big of a game is this for Notre Dame as a tone Setter for this season yeah I think it is a huge game for Notre Dame obviously a win on the road at ANC program is always valuable on on a resume right and this team has college football playoff expectations and to get that coming out of the gate will be very valuable can you bounce back from that and still get in the playoff yes but it is going to hurt your resume to either get in or have a higher seed so to be have that under your belt especially when you have a team with so many new pieces on the offense that maybe if you get this win you you buy yourself the ability to maybe trip up somewhere else down the season and not have it be as consequential so yeah I think this is a is a huge tone Setter for for Notre Dame and an opportunity to really show what they put together this offseason and maybe take advantage of Texas A&M being in a situation where they're putting a lot of pieces together this off season as well even if they're playing at home even if they're maybe pretty good all the time in Kyle Field I would add I would add to the fact that that there may not be another opportunity like this to rest of the way this year there are certainly other good games we know about Florida State USC will always be difficult Georgia Tech proved to be very tented this week um but Road games at ranked SEC opponents unless you're in the SEC you don't get a lot of cracks at those yeah no you don't and even the Georgia Tech games that in Atlanta but it's at the the Falcon stadium so they won't have a true Road game that is as challenging as this one um so to be able to show that medal in a situation like this is that huge opportunity that you probably can't make up later in the season certainly you can pick up enough wins to get back into the playoff but um especially if you want to be a team that has confidence that can win playoff games being able to go on the road because you might have to go on the road for a playoff game uh to to do this against Texas A&M would be a huge thing to have a notre D's back pocket we've got a few more days to digest this game and dissect the matchup Notre Dame kicks off against Texas A&M 7:30 at night in College Station we're going to have more coverage for you all week both at WSBT and wsbt.com Tyler and Eric will have lots more on inside indd Sports uh leading you up to during and then certainly following the game so Tyler thanks for your time today we'll see you down in Texas and we'll see you next week all right we'll see if it's hotter down there than it is here let's hope not but it probably will thanks for watching