Notre Dame is shuffling its offensive line as it looks for the perfect puzzle pieces

When the Notre Dame football team took to the field for the first time in spring practice, the Irish offensive line had a different look. Anthonie Knapp lined up at left guard, and redshirt freshman Will Black lined up at left tackle. Redshirt junior Joe Otting lined up at center, redshirt junior Sullivan Absher was at right guard, and redshirt sophomore Guerby Lambert, as expected, was shifted to right tackle. 

Considering that Marcus Freeman and Co. expect both Ashton Craig and Charles Jagusah to take back their starting jobs eventually, this alignment is far from permanent. However, it appears that the offensive coaches do want to see how Black and Knapp can handle their new positions. It may not even be for a starting spot when fall camp is roaring along. It could just be so the coaches can see what kind of adjustments will work best if injuries occur.

"I think it’s an effort as always, during the spring in particular, how do we evaluate and figure out who the best five guys are?" Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. "And then, OK, who's No. 6? Who's No. 7? Is there an 8? Is there not an 8? Whatever that number happens to be."

Notre Dame football's offensive line could be even better in 2026 if this spring experiment works

Knapp has come under some fire at tackle. However, the facts of the matter are that he's improved quite a bit over the last couple of years. Both On3 and Pro Football Focus consider him one of the best returning tackles in the sport.

"He improved his pass-blocking grade from a 49.2 mark in 2024 to 66.7 this past season, only surrendering one sack on 334 pass-blocking snaps in 2025," PFF college football analyst Max Chadwick wrote. "Knapp also improved his run-blocking grade to a 72.5 figure this year. Overall, he's the ninth-most valuable returning Power Four tackle across the last two years according to our WAA [wins above average] metric."

Now the hope is that Knapp can man right guard as Notre Dame gets to see whether Will Black, who was a highly ranked offensive line prospect out of high school, can win the job on the outside. Should all this work, a very good offensive line could be even better in 2026. And if things don't work the way they hope, they have the ability to shift things around again.