Welcome back to the first Five Wide Fullbacks of the hot summer time. In today’s edition we are talking about the injury to Gabriel Rubio, the development of Notre Dame’s offensive line, a tricky 2024 opponent to watch, the brewing saga of 2025 quarterback recruit Deuce Knight, and insights from the recent Olympics version of On Cam.
1) The commitment of quarterback Deuce Knight looks to be on shaky ground following a visit to Auburn with the recruiting world motioning towards a lot of momentum for the Tigers and the Mississippi native signal caller. How big of a blow would the loss be for the Irish?
With the new calendar for recruiting the timing certainly sucks. Sneaking in a visit to Auburn right as Notre Dame opens fall camp and a dead period arrives signals a decision making process that isn’t kind to the Irish. Around 10 months committed and to do this now isn’t super unusual but I’d still classify it as a dick move.
The top 38 quarterbacks in the 2025 Composite rankings are all committed so Notre Dame will have to rely on a flip in a part of the calendar when flips don’t happen as often anymore. Of course, it’s highly likely the Irish do flip someone but that’s not the point.
As of this writing, losing Knight from the 2025 class would drop Notre Dame all the way from 7th to 12th in the team rankings.
I think momentum, hype, and good vibes matter in the world of recruiting and this is another blow to Marcus Freeman’s program still trying to take things to the next level. If they lose Knight it’s another data point that it just isn’t happening for Irish recruiting.
2) Notre Dame lost key backup defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio for the first part of the season following a broken foot in the first practice of fall camp. How does that recalibrate the line for 2024 and who is ready to step up in his absence?
I feel like scrooge out here because the depth for Notre Dame’s defense is a little bit precarious and while there are plenty of bodies on the roster at defensive line this is an injury that the Irish would’ve hoped to avoid–and I’m not sure the quality depth is good enough. Does Notre Dame have an elite defensive line? I’m staring at the Athlon pre-season magazine and they have the Irish ranked 9th nationally.
To me, that’s a lot of reputation carrying from Howard Cross, then there’s a step down to Rylie Mills, then there’s a couple steps down to the next level of players. Deep down, I feel like Notre Dame has one great defensive lineman and some other okay pieces surrounded by a very high quality system. So, the injury to Rubio could be bad.
So far during camp, redshirt freshman Armel Mukam looks to be making the biggest leap from way down the depth chart to potentially playing some decent minutes in September. I went back to look at my recruiting comments on him with a grade of 85:
“I hesitate to call Mukam a project because he’s a potent weapon at the high school level. But, we know his background and the lack of overall football played in his life. Once he beats his man he’s a missile towards the ball-carrier. He’s really strong and mean with a nasty side to his tackling. I’m not sure where his body and size will take him at Notre Dame, though. However, he’s got a high ceiling.”
Maybe he’s moving closer to that ceiling? Mukam was 250-ish as a high school recruit and is already up to 302 on the 2024 roster. He’s potentially a new piece to add to Jason Onye and Donovan Hinish as trusted backups on the interior.
3) Notre Dame’s offensive line is the biggest question mark for the team heading into the season. Has their been a shakeup this fall camp so far and can they open the year at Texas A&M playing at a high level?
Just as this was being finished up news dropped that Notre Dame lost projected starting left tackle Charles Jagusah for the season following a torn pectoral muscle. That’s just about the worst injury for the Irish given the state of the roster right now.
Through a week of fall practice, it looked like Tosh Baker was going to be the man left on the outside looking in with Aamil Wagner reportedly leap-frogging the veteran for the starting right tackle spot. The most recent reports have Baker moving over to left tackle in recent practice(s) which will leave Wagner at right tackle.
Is that the right move?
The options are extremely limited. If the first move after Jagusah’s injury was to move Baker to the left side then I’m sure they want to keep Wagner at right tackle no matter what. Still, I’d be interested in hearing arguments for moving someone like Billy Schrauth to right tackle now, figure it out during August, and have Wagner get acclimated on the left side. That’s probably too much movement, though.
True freshman Anthonie Knapp has been the backup left tackle in camp, interesting because it’s not elite recruit Guerby Lambert instead. That doesn’t speak real well to the depth on the offensive line but it’s an amazing story so far for Knapp who looked like a sure-fire interior lineman and much more of a long-term development project. If size is a bit of an issue for Wagner it is right now for Knapp who isn’t quite as big.
4) Every season has 2 or 3 tricky trap games. Which one is the most worrisome for Notre Dame?
I keep looking at the Purdue game. It’s either that or Louisville and I think the Cardinals are too good nationally to overlook, it’s a home game for the Irish, and there’s revenge for last year.
Notre Dame hasn’t visited Purdue in 11 years–and while it won’t be a rowdy nighttime crowd with a 3:30 PM ET start–I’d expect a Boilermaker team ready to fight hard. They also have a conveniently scheduled week 2 bye and will be feeling good after pummeling hapless Indiana State.
Purdue is replacing a lot of starters, though. So it’s possible they are pretty terrible. Then again, maybe they make a jump in year 2 of the Ryan Walters era and I’ve always believed there’s a really good quarterback in there with Hudson Card. The Texas transfer was pretty mediocre in 2023 but he can be dangerous at times.
5) On a recent edition of On Cam with Irish freshman receiver Cameron Williams, he talks to teammates about which Olympic events they would excel at. What are the top takeaways from this video?
I love these quick videos because we get to see the players up close and without equipment and helmets on. Or, they’re not behind a lectern taking questions from the media.
Cam Williams has some good size, he looks like he could fit in on defense somewhere.
Rocco Spindler looks like he lives on a ranch off campus and just came back from Tractor Supply.
There’s been a lot of talk about Aamil Wagner’s weight but his height is interesting in this video. Based off the official roster there is supposed to be a 4-inch difference between Wagner and Williams while the discrepancy looks much closer to 2 inches.
Remember that The Shirt this year was flesh colored? Well, transfer kicker Mitch Jeter showed us a shirt that would’ve been a much easier choice for this year. Slap the words “The Shirt” on the back in green and these would sell like hot cakes.
I agree with “dick move” unless Knight communicated things to the Irish staff much better than it sounds. I think they still have a decent chance to land him. With recruiting and injury news, it’s been a lousy summer for ND fans. The latest injury could not have been at a worse position, except QB. Even that might have worked out better.
I think you meant Guerby Lambert in the last paragraph sect. 3 ??
How’s your summer riding going ? I’m expecting my new bike to be delivered today.
Look 765 optimum disc with Shimano 105 Di2 group set and Look carbon wheels. Super excited.
Yes, Lambert whoops.
Great! We’ve got a little local group together and going on our 2nd ride this weekend. Hopefully a 100k ride but rain will probably dial us back a bit. I’ve made huge progress this summer but I’m going out with some very strong riders, including a couple who have basically every KOM and QOM within a 50-mile radius.
Damn! I am jealous! Is it this one in charcoal?
https://www.lookcycle.com/us-en/products/bikes/road-bikes/endurance/765-optimum-charcoal-metallic-satin-105
That’s a sharp bike, let me know how you like the wheels and electronic shifting.
Yep that’s it. Got it, brand new, for way less than that links price.
Amazing.
Bike Tires Direct.
Hey you two — who knew Eric was riding bikes as well. I checked out your new bike acquisition, tlndma, with Lil, who as I told you in Worcester is a world champ (masters women) in several bike disciplines, and who just helped put on the Olympic mountain bike races. She says it’s a very nice bike… way too much for me (totally true). Anyway congrats!
And good luck riding on your 100 km, Eric.
BTW, my son and I watched the Olympic bike road race rolling by where he and his wife live in my Montmartre apartment, and it was… way cool!
I am actually surprised at how much fun the Games have been here. My only sadness is I can absolutely not find a ticket to beach volleyball…
500,000 people were on the streets for the Olympic road races (I think they combined the men and women Saturday/Sunday crowds for that figure)!
Lots of talk about having a similar type stage 20 in an upcoming Tour de France but ASO has already said it’s not feasible because the peloton and associated Tour caravan is far too big for this part of Paris.
Yep, totally. Having seen quite a lot of the caravans!
GT screams trap game to me. They were feisty last year and are well coached, and they fall right in mid-October spot where Freeman’s teams have had brain farts against Stanford and Louisville.
My guess right now is that we’ll lose a close slugfest to A&M, win a forgettable game against NIU, and then have a big coming out party against a Purdue team that’s more amped up for a “rivalry” game than they are good at football.
I thought about Ga Tech, too. Good pick.
Rubio will also be missed on goal line. He’s big and stout against the run. Don’t have a ton of 300+ dudes on the DL. That’s very surprising that Mukam is that big. Does it sound like good weight?
That’s him in the rolled up #88 he defintely got real thicc over the last year.
Imagine him bearing down on you on skates.
The man who makes the decision’s reasoning on Baker at LT, Wagner at RT.
I wish there was more talk about Baker’s positives but alas…
There is zero talk by the various sites about Baker’s positives, yet he will likely be starting at A&M because of his veteran presence. I think that Baker is a C-/D+ level tackle (in other words, below average) and they would be better off using the next few weeks to have Knapp and Absher battle it out. Knapp is under 300, but because he is only 6-4, he might be more sturdy than Wager (who is supposed to be 6-6, right?)
Well, one I can think of — for Texas A&M at least, maybe we just need someone out there who isn’t going to be false starting all night. That means experience, which means Baker more than any other option.
If we can get a Merely Adequate performance out of him for week 1 with few/no penalties, then we can reassess.
This is my take as well. Get thru A&M with a win and then get right the next 3 weeks finding the right o-line combo for the rest of the year.
I think we’re going to see a lot of read option, draws, and screen plays to counter A&M aggressive dlines. Overall, I think ND is going to be just fine. The 2021 team was arguably worse at every other position besides Safety and tailback and they almost backdoored into the playoffs against a pretty weak schedule.
Was going to save this for the main season preview, but I do see a lot of parallels with 2021 here. And, like that team, I think ND is going to look very, very good by November 2024.
Also on the bright side, two big upgrades over 2021: an, experienced above-average OC and a DC on his third year at ND.
I appreciate your optimism and positivity, ACS. With all the recent sky-is-falling talk related to injuries and recruiting losses, I was beginning to question why I’d wasted so much money on A&M and FSU tickets this year.
I had completely forgotten that OT win at Doak Campbell just 3 short years ago, but I like the comparison in light of the upcoming game at Kyle Field. Hopefully, being in attendance this time, I will remember it a little better than 2021!
Go Irish! Beat Lowered Expectations!!
Happy to help!
To throw a little cold water on that though — the 2021 team was one molecule away from starting 0-2 including a loss to Toledo. Throw in VT, and arguably that was an 8-4 team that overachieved/got lucky.
Baker’s size and mustache are his positives. People definitely don’t talk enough about his mustache.
Just googled ND’s over/under and it’s at 10.5. Seems a little high/maybe it should be 10? Realize the schedule is easy, but seems hard to believe that with our offensive line situation we’re not going to have at least a few duds. And 11 wins means we probably win 2 or 3 of our duds.