Tag: Liam Eichenberg

Notre Dame OT Eichenberg is A Top 2021 NFL Draft Prospect

Irish offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg should be hearing his named called early in next years NFL Draft.

Notre Dame offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg could have left early to the NFL this past season but opted to return for his final season with the Irish. If he had decided to leave, most likely would have been either a first-round pick or at worst a second rounder.

By staying for his redshirt senior year, Eichenberg will add on to the 26 starts under his belt this upcoming season. Viewed as the leader of the offensive line, the left tackle will lead a group that returns everyone and should be viewed as one of the best groups in the nation.

Looking ahead to the 2021 draft, Eichenberg will not a have a decision to make at the end of the year, but NFL teams will. College Football News named Eichenberg as the 15th ranked best player regardless of position who will be selected next year. The third offensive lineman on the list behind Oregon’s Penei Sewell and Standfords Walker Little, the Irish star should hear his name called early.

Pete Fuitak, the publisher of CFN, does see some issue’s NFL teams might see in Eichenberg as “he’s not as massive as some might like, and he’ll likely be just behind the prototype-looking tackles at the top of the 2021 NFL Draft.” Regardless of any nitpicking NFL teams may do regarding the tackle, Eichenberg is still in line to join the likes of Mike McGlinchey and Ronnie  as Notre Dame tackles selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Notre Dame’s 2020 O-Line Loaded with Talent in PFF’s Eyes

did anyone else catch a theme that seemed to fit perfectly into the 2019 Notre Dame offense?

When the 2020 college football season arrives Notre Dame will enter it with one of the most-experienced offensive lines in the entire country.

Common sense tells you about the experience but according to Pro Football Focus, the amount of talent should be near an elite level as well.  Let’s examine what they had to say Monday when they ranked the“30 Best Returning Offensive Linemen” and why I’m still a bit skeptical of the unit overall.

Here’s what they had to say as they ranked four Notre Dame linemen in their top 30, more than any other school.  For comparison only Kentucky even had three while Air Force and BYU both had a pair of representitives.

Here’s who PFF ranked from Notre Dame in their top 30 and what they had to say about each – read it and then see if you can guess why I’m still a bit concerned:

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Notre Dame’s Good, Not Great Offensive Line Gets Graded by PFF

Unfortunately, the dominance was not nearly as evident in the running game for Notre Dame. 

Notre Dame had a good offensive line in 2019.

However, in some places, certain things simply require more than being just “good”.

When it comes to Notre Dame, the play of the offensive line is one such thing.

A look at the recent NFL All-Pro First-Team saw three of the five selected offensive linemen be products of Notre Dame where the standard is being dominating as a unit, not simply good.

Pro Football Focus released their team rankings for offensive lines and Notre Dame, although rated fairly high, came in far from elite.

Here is the PFF write-up of the 13th ranked Notre Dame offensive line:

Splitting hairs with the team right above them, both Notre Dame and Penn State ranked 17th in overall grade from their offensive lines this year, but the Fighting Irish get the advantage due to their second-ranked pass-blocking grade in 2019. The Fighting Irish were led by Eichenberg, who didn’t allow a single sack all year long.

-Pro Football Focus on 1/6/2020

Liam Eichenberg graded the best of any Notre Dame offensive lineman, largely because of his ability in pass-protection, something the entire unit was rather dominant in.

Unfortunately, the dominance was not nearly as evident in the running game for Notre Dame.  The most telling number to that comes when you look at the Irish’s ability, or lack thereof, to run the ball successfully against the two best teams they played at Georgia and Michigan.

In those two games Notre Dame ran for just 93 yards total on 45 attempts, good for an average of just 2.06 yards per carry.

If Notre Dame is going to take that next step and close the gap separating them from the likes of Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Georgia, they’ll have to re-establish the ability to run the ball with regularity.

For what it’s worth Oregon, Alabama and Georgia graded out as the three best offensive line units for 2019.