Tag: Anthonie Knapp

Notre Dame vs. Florida State: First-Quarter Analysis

The Irish have the lead. That’s the important thing.

Notre Dame is facing a Florida State team that has nothing to play for but pride the rest of the season. Opponents with nothing left to lose often are the most dangerous. Despite a 7-3 Irish lead after the first quarter, the Seminoles have shown they won’t be pushovers.

The Irish needed only 103 seconds to get the scoring going. The middle of their first drive featuring a 28-yard completion from [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] to [autotag]Aneyas Williams[/autotag]. It culminated with Leonard running 34 years for the game’s first touchdown.

The Seminoles’ first possession took almost half the quarter, though that was helped by an Irish defensive penalty on fourth down. Though the Seminoles got to the Irish 4-yard line, they only could muster a Ryan Fitzgerald chip-shot field goal to get them on the board.

After that, there was a whole lot of nothing with four consecutive three-and-outs, two apiece for the teams. [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] broke that streak with a first-down run in the final minute. He did so without [autotag]Anthonie Knapp,[/autotag] the Irish’s starting left tackle who went to the bench with a currently undisclosed injury during the quarter.

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On3 has two Notre Dame players on its mid-season Freshman All-American team

These two Irish freshman have bright futures ahead of them

While many teams across the country have had to use some of its true freshman earlier than anticipated, Notre Dame’s injury woes has been a blessing in disguise as it has found a pair that will have great careers in South Bend.

On Monday afternoon, On3 named its midseason true freshman All-American team with offensive tackle [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag] and linebacker [autotag]Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa[/autotag] both making the cut.

The tackle has started every game so far for the Irish, and head coach Marcus Freeman has raved about his progress. He’s said many times that Knapp has improved every week, as he gets more accustomed to the collegiate game.

While KVA isn’t a starter like his teammate, he’s still had a major impact on the Notre Dame defense. In limited time this fall, he’s already made 16 stops with a sack and an interception. If the players ahead of him weren’t playing at a high level, we’d probably be seeing Viliamu-Asa trotting out with the starting lineup.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (27) tackles Purdue Boilermakers running back Devin Mockobee (45) Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, during the NCAA football game at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Notre Dame Fighting Irish won 66-7.

While this is a great honor, it’s just at the midpoint of the season and both of them will have to continue to play at a high level to earn full season honors while helping the Irish continue to win games.

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Notre Dame offensive lineman Tosh Baker out against Northern Illinois

Hope he’s back soon.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Not long before Notre Dame was set to take the field against Northern Illinois, an additional injury was announced. This one will further hit the depth of an offensive line already depleted by injuries.

[autotag]Tosh Baker[/autotag] has been a reliable offensive lineman for the Irish over the past few seasons, appearing in 38 games. The depth chart released earlier this week had him lined up as the backup to starting left tackle [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag]. This was to follow up his time on special teams against Texas A&M.

Now, a shoulder injury will keep him out against the Huskies per this report:

https://twitter.com/NDFootballPR/status/1832488694495764959

Already ruled out for this game were receiver [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag], safety [autotag]Tae Johnson[/autotag] and defensive lineman [autotag]Gabriel Rubio[/autotag].

The good news is the Irish still should have more than enough available talent to defeat the Huskies. While this week’s pregame injury report isn’t as clean as last week’s, there isn’t anything too devastating to report here. Let’s hope it stays that way during the game.

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Anthonie Knapp has high praise for Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

Love to see this from coach Freeman

It takes a lot for a head coach to trust a true-freshman left tackle as the starter, but that is exactly the case for Notre Dame’s [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag].

The Georgia native arrived on campus without much fanfare, but quickly made a name for himself. Following his first career start in a hostile environment in Texas A&M, Knapp graded out very well by Pro Football Focus’ metrics.

What’s more impressive is his mindset. You have to have a great one to be successful early at any school, but that’s not all. You have to have a coach that instills confidence in you, which Knapp explained Freeman does.

The term players-coach certainly applies to Freeman, who has done a great job getting the most out of his team. Previously the results hadn’t been the best, but that tide looks to be turning in 2024.

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Notre Dame tackle has surprising grade against Texas A&M

Notre Dame freshman offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp grades out well in debut.

Notre Dame offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp, a true freshman, graded out relatively strongly in the Fighting Irish’s 23-13 win over Texas A&M.

Knapp appeared to struggle at times, due to a combination of inexperience, a stout Aggies defense and the hostile environment of Kyle Field. He was flagged twice: once for a false start and once for a hold.

According to Pro Football Focus College, he graded out with an 82.3 pass-blocking grade and allowed one pressure in 36 pass-block snaps.

With Charles Jagusah out for the season with an injury, Knapp will have to step up and play well. While he appeared to have some of the typical freshman struggles in the opener, his grade is pretty good for a freshman playing in his first game, especially against a strong defense on the road in a loud stadium.

We’ll see if Knapp can build on it.

https://twitter.com/pff_college/status/1830344124949524556?s=46&t=NKxhO50JTypMTJmFyBYfiQ

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Will Texas A&M’s D-line take advantage of Notre Dame’s young O-line?

Notre Dame will start freshman Anthonie Knapp vs. Texas A&M

Ahead of Texas A&M’s 2024 season opener vs. Notre Dame on Saturday night, Aggies’ head coach Mike Elko talked to the local media on Monday afternoon, where he was asked about facing a Notre Dame offensive line that will feature three sophomores and two freshman starters, which just six total starts between the five starters.

After dealing with several injuries this offseason, including the season-ending loss to the program’s starting left tackle Charles Jagusah, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman knows that the “next man up” mentality is mandatory. However, Elko knows that despite the youth, he knows that talent across the Irish O-line won’t be lacking.

“Notre Dame has recruited the offensive line really, really well for a really, really long time.”

“The six starts maybe is a concern for them to some degree, maybe in the opener, but I’m sure these young kids that they’re putting out there are really talented.”

On paper, this looks like a huge advantage for Texas A&M’s defensive line, which will likely rotate throughout the night to preserve starting defensive ends Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart while starting defensive tackle Shemar Turner will also face a favorable one-on-one matchup.

Another name to watch is former Bowling Green pass rusher Cashius Howell, who will start at the Jack position, a hybrid defensive end/linebacker based on the defense being called.

During his final season with the Falcons, Howell racked up 9.5 sacks. Together with Scourton, Turner, and Stewart, he accounted for 27 sacks last season.

Set to face Nic Scourton on the left side, Freeman announced that freshman Anthonie Knapp will start at left tackle for the Irish.

No. 20 Texas A&M will host No. 7 Notre Dame on Saturday, August 31, at 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will air on ABC.

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Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has high expectations for Notre Dame freshman starting offensive lineman

Elko may just be right about Knapp and Pendleton

If you haven’t heard, Notre Dame football released its depth chart against Texas A&M, and there are two freshman starting offensive lineman.

True-freshman [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag] and redshirt-freshman [autotag]Sam Pendleton[/autotag] will run out onto Kyle Field when the Irish take their first offensive snaps of the 2024 season. While many would see this as a potential problem, Aggies head coach [autotag]Mike Elko[/autotag] viewed it completely differently.

The former Notre Dame defensive coordinator met with the media on Monday and was very complimentary of the two starting freshman. Elko mentioned that the Irish traditionally have one of the best offensive lines in the country, and if a young player is starting, they’re going to eventually get drafted one day.

It’s hard to disagree with this assessment, as the Irish have had a few freshman start over the last couple years ended up seeing their names called in the draft.

Joe Alt and Blake Fisher are just two examples of young Notre Dame offensive lineman being ready to perform at this level immediately. It seems like the Irish have another pair that can do so in Knapp and Pendleton.

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Notre Dame football releases its depth chart for Texas A&M with two big surprises

We know who the Irish will send out for the first snaps

You know that it’s a Notre Dame football game week when they release a depth chart.

The first one of the year is always interesting to see, as you can see the tangible improvements from players. The biggest takeaway should be that the Irish are going to start two freshman on the offensive line in [autotag]Sam Pendleton[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag].

While Pendleton is a redshirt, Knapp isn’t as they’ll both be making their debuts on the road at Texas A&M.

Defensively, there aren’t many surprises here, lots of underclassmen making the two-deep. Luke Talich doesn’t get much hype, but he’s right behind classmate Adon Schuler as the boundary corner.

This clearly will change as the season goes on, but no we know who will be on the field for the first snaps of the year for the Irish on Saturday.

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On3 names two Notre Dame players to its true freshman All-American team

These two Irish freshman have very high expectations

The 2024 recruiting cycle was a prosperous one for Notre Dame football, as they signed 23 high school stars in what was ranked the No. 9 overall class by the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings.

Now that all of these prospects have enrolled, the hype turns into production. Actually, there is still some hype, in the form of preseason All-American teams. On3 released its true freshman squad on Monday, and two rising Irish stars made the list.

On offense it was tackle [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag], who has been making noise in camp and could be a starter come the season opener against Texas A&M.

Defensively, linebacker [autotag]Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa[/autotag] was the choice, which isn’t surprising at all since he was one of the highest rated signees from this past cycle. He’s not in the starting conversation, but will play a lot.

Both of these Irish stars are expected to have very good careers in Blue and Gold, and they should get on the field fairly early during year-one.

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Has Notre Dame found another diamond in the rough offensive lineman?

It’s not surprising to see the Irish unearth another underrated offensive lineman

Since Notre Dame football’s projected starting left tackle [autotag]Charles Jagusah[/autotag] went down with a season-ending injury, many have wondered who would take over the spot.

When we looked at the top candidates, [autotag]Anthonie Knapp[/autotag] wasn’t one of them, but he could be forcing his way into playing time. The true freshman from Georgia didn’t enter the program with much hype. He was ranked 332nd overall on the 247Sports composite.

Clearly recruiting isn’t an exact science, see Joe Alt, but one aspect Notre Dame has been able to do over the past few years is identify underrated offensive lineman. As reported by Pete Sampson, Knapp took first-team reps at tackle on Thursday’s practice, furthering that point.

It looks like the Irish have found yet another lower-rated prospect that will contribute to the program immediately. Even if Knapp isn’t the starter, it looks like he will play much sooner rather than later.

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