The signs were all around Notre Dame offensive lineman Tommy Kraemer.
The first one came during his red-shirt freshman season in 2017 when a true freshman – Robert Hainsey – split time with him at right tackle. Then came the move to guard in the spring of 2018.
The slower linemen move closer to the snap of the football.
The most telling sign of all came in the eighth game of last season when after starting 12 of 13 games in ’17 and six of the first seven in ’18 – missing only the Wake Forest game due to injury – offensive coordinator Chip Long tabbed Aaron Banks for the starting unit despite Kraemer’s vast experience and Notre Dame’s ongoing undefeated regular season.
“Coach Long talked to me about it and I used it to fire me up,” recalled Kraemer, the 6-foot-5 5/8, 319-pounder out of Elder High School in Cincinnati.
“That was the best thing that could have happened to me. I’m happy it happened. I had a really strong next seven games.”
And yet a strong finish to the 2018 regular season – particularly since the campaign ended with a 30-3 loss to Clemson in the playoffs where the Irish managed just 248 yards total offense – was not enough.
Kraemer had some work to do in January and February before the start of spring drills in March. In the words of offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, Kraemer had to improve his “foot fire.”
“Last year was an up-and-down year at guard,” Kraemer said. “I struggled. It was my feet. I wasn’t moving well enough. I wanted to make sure that never happened again.
“We have a lot of outside perimeter pulls and there were times when the running back was running into me. So I really focused on being explosive on the pulls and getting on the edge.”
The weight has remained the same. In fact, Kraemer says he’s actually two pounds heavier than he was last year. But his body composition has changed dramatically.
“I completely changed my body this off-season with Coach (Matt) Balis,” Kraemer said. “I just made sure I was eating better and focusing on the nutrition, hydration, taking care of my body, sleep…
“Everything goes into it, and when you do that, you put on more muscle and lose fat, which makes you more explosive. It’s night and day compared to last year in how I feel pulling around the edge. It feels great.”
Long’s decision to temporarily take Kraemer out of the starting lineup during the 2018 season said it all. Long added some verbal advice following the Cotton Bowl to make sure Kraemer completely understood.
“He had to move better,” said Long of Kraemer’s off-season decree. “I like to pull our guys. We were not very good at that last year and we’re not going to lose that part of our offense. If (Kraemer) wanted to be the guy, he had to do it so he could pull and pull with power.
“Now you see a much more confident guy. He’s stronger. The way he’s bouncing around out there is way better than the middle of (last) year when he struggled.”
With the lost body fat and the added mobility, Kraemer not only looks and plays like a new man, but talks the part as well. Once a guy who had trepidation and doubts about his ability, Kraemer discusses his future with the Irish like a guy who has had the shackles removed.
“It definitely was confidence issue, too,” Kraemer said. “The Ball State game and the Pitt game were my two bad games. I lacked the confidence after a bad play. I couldn’t regroup.
“Later in the year, I did a really good job of that. If there was a bad play, I moved on to the next play. Forget about that one and move on. Now with my better foot speed, my confidence is even higher.”
Adding to Kraemer’s improved body and mind is one of Notre Dame’s great confidence-givers – the aforementioned Jeff Quinn.
“It’s a lot of fun playing for Coach Quinn,” Kraemer said. “We have a great relationship. He wasn’t on the (assistant) coaching staff when I was being recruited, but he was here. He’s a Cincinnati guy like I am. So I know him really well.
“He’s a great guy. Kind of a father figure for all of us. It’s fun playing for him. We want to make him proud. His enthusiasm is infectious. He gets all pumped up when we make big blocks.”
Now that Kraemer’s “football self esteem” is on the rise, he can expand his horizons a bit, joining Hainsey and fellow red-shirt junior Liam Eichenberg as the elder statesmen and leaders of the offensive line, along with injured fifth-year senior Ruhland.
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“Absolutely,” said Kraemer when asked if he feels like a leader on Quinn’s unit. “We all share that duty. Rob, Liam and I. Trevor too. He’s been great running film and keeping all the guys energized while making sure the young guys are good.
“I think I’ve had a really strong spring so far. Obviously, you want to improve every day, and I have a lot of stuff to work on. But I don’t want to have a season like I had last year when I was an up and down player. So I focused on my body and really improved. I’m at a really good point now.”
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