'24 GA OL Anthonie Knapp (Notre Dame Signee)

[Irish du Nord]

PFF gave him a 73.3 grade as a run blocker. He allowed 9 pressures all season, including 5 in the last nine games. Allowed one sack all season vs Purdue. He has started 27 out of 28 possible games in his career. If he's not one of the ten best players on the team, he's inside the top 15 easily.

He was bad against Miami but apart from that he was as solid as it gets last year.

And he was the better tackle against Miami (and way better than Prescod was after Knapp’s injury)

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

One thing MF mentioned at the presser is the staff planning to dive into how they can better perform early on in the year. I think after this year he knows that the margin for error is even smaller than we originally envisioned. hopefully whatever the issues are they can get it figured out sooner rather than later. I'd be curious to know what they find out after their research.

Freeman Era, Regular Season

August 2-1
September 11-5
October 12-2
November 14-2

Notre Dame has not lost in October and November in the last two seasons.

It's very clear where the speed bumps lie. Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue are THE most important games on the schedule in this moment with this being said.

 

[ab2cmiller]

One thing MF mentioned at the presser is the staff planning to dive into how they can better perform early on in the year. I think after this year he knows that the margin for error is even smaller than we originally envisioned. hopefully whatever the issues are they can get it figured out sooner rather than later. I'd be curious to know what they find out after their research.

One thing that I've wondered to myself, do we need to set the starting OL earlier in the summer?

This is only my perception and I certainly could be mistaken, but it feels like there are times where we spend a lot of time moving pieces around trying every kind of setup to find the unit that shows the most promise until later in the summer. Does the delay in setting the first unit slow down the process of that unit gelling together? By the 3rd or 4th game they are gelling and are formidable, but those first couple of games reflect more communication issues which result in significant blocking issues.

I'd love to hear OMM's perspective as well as others. Maybe my concern is overstated and that no matter when you decide who's on the first unit and at what position, you are going to have issues until they are tested in battle.

 

[rtrn2glory]

IDK why, prolly cuz Fitzgerald is there now, but the Michigan St game is the one that most worries me of the early slate. I think he will turn that program around and that game in its hay day was a very good rivalry game.

 

[ulukinatme]

Freeman Era, Regular Season

August 2-1
September 11-5
October 12-2
November 14-2

Notre Dame has not lost in October and November in the last two seasons.

It's very clear where the speed bumps lie. Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue are THE most important games on the schedule in this moment with this being said.

It's like the reverse BK model. BK would come out strong out of the gate, and then often flounder in November (Not always, but often enough that BK addressed it in a presser). Freeman's teams have come out looking weaker to start and then finish strong. I would rather have the later than the former, but playing strong all year would be nice too.

 

[Old Man Mike]

I have no business predicting a player's progress nor even evaluating him as to potential --- just too much is unknown unless you're right there on the field with the young fellow and practicing etc. Humbly, honestly so on my part, Knapp's trajectory reminds me a little of Eichenberg ... "OK" with flashes of good in the early years, and gradually toughening and smartening up to become an NFLer later. This is what I hope for him this season and next. I'd say that Knapp was ahead of Eichenberg, but not the instant stud of McGlinchey nor Alt. Even Ronnie took a little getting up to full power.

If true, and if Lambert leaps forward the same way, (he should), and Craig and Jagusah are ready, we ought to have FOUR very good to top shelf linemen. So who's five? I keep thinking that Abshur will make a "senior leap", but maybe he's peaked. ... I have a hard time believing that, so my optimism is that even if Abshur can't start, that means that we have a whole line full of NFL ultimate draftees.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

It's like the reverse BK model. BK would come out strong out of the gate, and then often flounder in November (Not always, but often enough that BK addressed it in a presser). Freeman's teams have come out looking weaker to start and then finish strong. I would rather have the later than the former, but playing strong all year would be nice too.

The last November loss a BK team suffered was in 2017.

BK had as many unbeaten Septembers as he did unbeaten Novembers. 6 a piece.

BK had unbeaten Novembers in 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

His unbeaten Septembers were 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Weis ND teams were shit in November in 2008 and 2009. It cost him his job ultimately.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

IDK why, prolly cuz Fitzgerald is there now, but the Michigan St game is the one that most worries me of the early slate. I think he will turn that program around and that game in its hay day was a very good rivalry game.

Getting off track in Knapp's thread, but I agree. It's at home, thankfully, but no idea what they're going to look like.

Pat Fitzgerald beat ND as a player in 1995. He beat then as a coach in that shit storm of a 2014 season. I thought they played ND tough in 2018 when ND beat them in Evanston.

He's no fan of Notre Dame going back to when he was a recruit in HS. His inner motivation is going to be there.

Bottom line, I want Knapp getting every meaningful rep next season. Period.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Getting off track in Knapp's thread, but I agree. It's at home, thankfully, but no idea what they're going to look like.

Pat Fitzgerald beat ND as a player in 1995. He beat then as a coach in that shit storm of a 2014 season. I thought they played ND tough in 2018 when ND beat them in Evanston.

He's no fan of Notre Dame going back to when he was a recruit in HS. His inner motivation is going to be there.

Bottom line, I want Knapp getting every meaningful rep next season. Period.

Wasn't Ian Book playing with a lacerated kidney or something?

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Wasn't Ian Book playing with a lacerated kidney or something?

I don't recall that. What I do recall is Northwestern got called for zero penalties.

It was 24-7 ND and suddenly it was 24-21. Book had a long run for a TD and it finished 31-21.

 

[NDVirginia19]

That Northwestern game produced my favorite tweet of all time

 

[Old Man Mike]

Regarding last season's slow start, Freeman, in a moment of neverbeforeheard pointedness, told us the issue. In a presscon, he said rather clearly that he and the staff blew it by NOT practicing hard nor intelligently enough with players on specific details. He even gave an example: getting a defensive back or linebacker ready for the specific speed in certain plays by certain opponents so as to take proper angles. This was, in my eyes, a direct slap at the coaches for what in his view were low-intensity practice attitudes. Things quickly got a lot more serious by game time. I believe that he was genuinely pissed that the staff had gotten too "happy" with their approaches with their groups especially defensively.

 

[ulukinatme]

The last November loss a BK team suffered was in 2017.

BK had as many unbeaten Septembers as he did unbeaten Novembers. 6 a piece.

BK had unbeaten Novembers in 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

His unbeaten Septembers were 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

Weis ND teams were shit in November in 2008 and 2009. It cost him his job ultimately.

Almost every year from 2011-2017 we saw a weaker ND team in November than we started out with though, 2012 included. It usually was a late season collapse against Stanford, but in some cases it was Pitt (We DID escape with a 3 OT win in 2012, but we should have never been there). There were also losses to other mediocre teams like Northwestern, or Louisville, or Navy, or VT that probably shouldn't have happened. One time it was an embarrassing ass kicking to a Miami squad that would lose 3 of their next 4 remaining games.

I don't remember exactly what year he made the statement, but BK did come out and mention they would quit falling apart or playing below their level in November because it had become a thing at that point. It helped that Stanford fell off around that time and Pitt quit being quite as competitive still 2025

 

[FWIrish4]

That Northwestern game produced my favorite tweet of all time

Pretty insane we were a Top 3 team in the country in 2018 beating Northwestern by 10 late and now we just totally demolish lesser teams. It’s so much more fun.

 

[ColinKSU]

Pretty insane we were a Top 3 team in the country in 2018 beating Northwestern by 10 late and now we just total demolish lesser teams. It’s so much more fun.

I literally spent my entire life wondering what it felt like to follow a team that ran people off the field. It sucked watching highlights of teams getting trains run on them while “everyone gives Notre Dame their best” as we win by a field goal.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Brian Kelly's Notre Dame Football teams were 34-12 in September and 35-13 in November overall.

 

[irish4ever]

August 2-1
September 11-5
October 12-2
November 14-2

Notre Dame has not lost in October and November in the last two seasons.

It's very clear where the speed bumps lie. Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue are THE most important games on the schedule in this moment with this being said.

Post season, but MF lead Irish are undefeated (3-0) in December over the past 3 years (So. Car., Ore. St., IU)

 

[Irish du Nord]

I don't recall that. What I do recall is Northwestern got called for zero penalties.

It was 24-7 ND and suddenly it was 24-21. Book had a long run for a TD and it finished 31-21.

NW went to the Big 10 championship that year if I recall correctly. Book had been playing injured though I don’t recall the injury. My dorm was having an SYR in South Dining Hall which turned rather quickly into a game arch on someone’s TV they brought along

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Post season, but MF lead Irish are undefeated (3-0) in December over the past 3 years (So. Car., Ore. St., IU)

He's 5-2 in the post season overall. One loss was the NC game last season and the other was his very first game as HC, the Fiesta Bowl vs Oklahoma State. Both games were close and within the margins.

In the end, they need to figure out how to maximize their offseason time to get ready to come out of the gate hard in September. Especially with schedules that will be front loaded. That being said, they've lost September games to Marshall and NIU, as we are all aware. Then you have tOSU home and away, TAMU this past season.

 

[stlnd01]

NW went to the Big 10 championship that year if I recall correctly. Book had been playing injured though I don’t recall the injury. My dorm was having an SYR in South Dining Hall which turned rather quickly into a game arch on someone’s TV they brought along

I guess it's inevitable given there are more road night games than there used to be and there's only so many weekends for Fall SYRs, but having an SYR during a football game seems weird. Not how we did it back in my day (the late '90s).

 

[Irish du Nord]

I guess it's inevitable given there are more road night games than there used to be and there's only so many weekends for Fall SYRs, but having an SYR during a football game seems weird. Not how we did it back in my day (the late '90s).

My dorm was always behind in getting venues booked, so I imagine that played a part. South was good but it was a hike for us down from Mod Quad

 

[domer13]

I guess it's inevitable given there are more road night games than there used to be and there's only so many weekends for Fall SYRs, but having an SYR during a football game seems weird. Not how we did it back in my day (the late '90s).

It's difficult when the time for the game isn't decided until the week or two before.

 

[stlnd01]

It's difficult when the time for the game isn't decided until the week or two before.

True. One of the more generally annoying features of modern college football is not knowing what time a game is gonna be until less than a week out.

 

[PolishDomer]

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

IDK why, prolly cuz Fitzgerald is there now, but the Michigan St game is the one that most worries me of the early slate. I think he will turn that program around and that game in its hay day was a very good rivalry game.

I think Fitz is a good hire for MSU long-term but that cupboard could not be barer for him starting out. Going to be an embarrassing talent gap on the field in September. They lost 44 players to the portal, including their only true playmaking threats in Marsh and Chiles, and their transfer portal rankings are 52 (247) and 58 (on3).

They will have no answer for the likes of Anthonie Knapp

 

[PolishDomer]

I think Fitz is a good hire for MSU long-term but that cupboard could not be barer for him starting out. Going to be an embarrassing talent gap on the field in September. They lost 44 players to the portal, including their only true playmaking threats in Marsh and Chiles, and their transfer portal rankings are 52 (247) and 58 (on3).

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Edited

Sorry, I couldn't let irrational fear of the (now) lowly Spartans go unnoticed. lol

 

[ColinKSU]

They will have no answer for the likes of Anthonie Knapp

There never is, brother.