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Notre Dame Offensive Line Playing The Transition Game

Notre Dame’s offensive line needs to replace three starters, plus a fourth is switching positions.
Notre Dame’s offensive line needs to replace three starters, plus a fourth is switching positions.

It is a year of transition for Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand’s troops.

• For the first time in seven years, a Martin — Zack or Nick — will not be starting or leading along the line. Each was a two-time captain from the years 2012-15, or since Hiestand first arrived at Notre Dame.

• The Fighting Irish need to replace three starters there (center Nick Martin, left tackle Ronnie Stanley and right guard Steve Elmer) for the first time since 2007, the year of the 3-9 meltdown.

• Each projected starter in 2016 has at least one more year of eligibility remaining in 2017. That’s a first since 2004, Tyrone Willingham’s final season as Notre Dame’s head coach.

The year of transition for Hiestand began in January, when the decision was made to switch senior Mike McGlinchey, who started all 13 games at right tackle as a junior in 2015, to left tackle. Had Elmer returned for his senior year instead of graduating early this May, Hiestand said the shift to McGlinchey to the left side still would have been made because of the aspiration to have a potentially dominant duo there with junior guard Quenton Nelson.

“You want to secure that left tackle spot,” Hiestand said of the position that has had a first-round pick (Zack Martin from 2010-13) and a projected first-round selection (Stanley from 2014-15) lined up there six straight years. “Mike has the size and the length, and two more years. We thought that was the appropriate move.”

Other than one practice this spring where McGlinchey let his ultra-intense emotions get the better of him (according to Hiestand), he has displayed the skills and characteristics to continue the left tackle excellence. Four-time All-Pro center Olin Kreutz, a regular visitor to Irish practices after having starred for Hiestand while with the Chicago Bears, has seen it based on the group meetings he’s attended.

“He was really impressed with what Mike McGlinchey has been doing, and I agree,” Hiestand said. “Mike has accepted that role, has stepped up and is doing a great job leading the guys, carrying on the tradition that the Martins demonstrated. They showed him how to lead. … He’s doing that right now in a very good way for us.”

Speaking of future first-round ability, head coach Brian Kelly in so many words stated that Nelson has such qualities.

“Mike’s been our most efficient blocker and Quenton is in the best physical shape he’s been in, moves extremely well … a rare, rare, rare football player,” Kelly said. “We’re very, very fortunate.”

Where Kelly was inaccurate about Nelson was a weight he noted as 346, when Nelson is actually more so between 330-335.

“He looks like 350,” Hiestand said with a chuckle when asked about the former five-star recruit Nelson. “His size and strength and toughness are exceptional. What I like best is how important it is to him to be successful. His attitude and his pride about getting his job done is really a super quality that he manifests. He is just so hungry to get it done and wants to be such a great teammate.

“That’s why you have those kind of feelings about a guy, because you know you can count on him every day. He’s going to lay it on the line for this football team.”

The left side has crystallized, but two more starters are staking their claim along the line. The first is junior center Sam Mustipher withstanding a strong challenge from sophomore Tristen Hoge, who also has moonlighted at right guard. Mustipher arrived as a guard, but was quickly identified as a prototype center with his compact 6-2¼, 305-pound frame that allows him to have a low base for leverage.

“He’s got the body type for it,” Hiestand said. “He’s thick and strong, and has really good quickness, and he’s really smart. … We knew that he would eventually be very good there. He’s progressing really well.

“Sam’s an older player, a more experienced player and has established himself with some pretty good consistency. Tristen’s pushing him for sure. … He’ll continue to close that gap on Sam.”

The fourth most likely starter is junior Alex Bars, at right tackle. Like Hoge with Mustipher this spring, Bars gave Nelson an excellent challenge at left guard last year, and started a couple of games for the injured Nelson before suffering a fractured ankle versus USC Oct. 17. Bars remains somewhat hampered this spring while recovering from the injury, but after starting out at right guard, he is settling in at right tackle. For Hiestand, strong line play begins from the outside in with the tackles, and with McGlinchey and Bars, he believes he has found his tandem.

Seniors Hunter Bivin and Colin McGovern also have competed at right tackle, but Bivin is better suited, per Hiestand, to playing in “close quarters” at right guard rather than in space. McGovern missed about five practices with an injury, and he too seems more comfortable at guard.

“For what we need for our team, definitely,” replied Hiestand when asked if Bars will stay at tackle. “He needs to play tackle. We need another guy to play tackle. … We have to have guys that can protect on the edge at tackle when the game comes down to that.

“Many guys can do it on first and second downs. On third downs, pass situations, you need to have enough range to cover that edge. … Alex has to be able to do that for us. It’s been a process to get Alex back off that broken ankle. We’re kind of progressing in and not overloading him too soon.”

With Bars, Bivin and McGovern, the veteran Irish line coach says he has “three guys for two spots right now,” and is not ruling out rotating them. Bivin could well be the starting right guard, but he also is the third tackle option on either the left or right side.

“If they’re even, they’re both going to play because they’re both good enough to help us,” Hiestand said of the Bivin/McGovern duo at right guard.

Rounding out this spring's 10-man scholarship, two-deep are junior Jimmy Byrne at left tackle and fifth-year senior left guard Mark Harrell, who has played virtually every position during his career, including center. While much might be made about the disparity between the potentially stellar left side and the trying to find itself right side, Hiestand remains even keeled.

“I don’t think either side has the world licked, to be honest with you,” Hiestand said. “We’re in the middle of spring ball. We have to get better. … I wouldn’t say there’s a drop-off. It’s all got to get better. It will come in time. … [The right side] will make up ground because they want to do it.”

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