2020 Notre Dame Football Preview

Digital Edition

Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1264448

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 79 of 163

78 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW with the sleeves cut off and a smug smile on his face, as he sat in the Isban Auditorium in the Guglielmino Athletics Complex on an October evening after practice. Members of the local and national media gathered around him with cameras and voice recorders. It was the week before the Fight- ing Irish were to travel to Blacksburg, Va., in 2018 to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies and their raucous home crowd, which feeds off the team's famous stadium entrance to the Metallica song "Enter Sandman." Eichenberg, in the midst of his first sea- son as a collegiate starter, shrugged off a question from a reporter on the environment at Lane Stadium, knowing the noise was nothing he and his Fighting Irish teammates wouldn't handle. "It's gonna be loud, but our stadium is loud," he said. "I'm excited to go in there, kick the [crap] out of them, get a win, then get out of there." Notre Dame won the game 45-23, pulling away in the second half after a back-and-forth start. While Eichenberg's clairvoyant statement didn't curry his favor with the program's communications staff, this business-like and intense approach to his upcoming opponent was authentic and provided legitimate insight into Eichenberg's no-nonsense approach to the game. Through his collegiate career, even his own teammates marveled at his work ethic. At certain points, his seemingly tireless determi- nation could even get on the nerves of other offensive linemen. Ruhland, who started along the Fighting Irish offensive line at various points during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, lived in one of the two off-campus offensive line houses and frequently hung out with Eichenberg away from the practice facility. With a demanding schedule consisting of athletics and academ- ics, Ruhland said he often tried to find time to unwind. That is, assuming Eichenberg would let him. "Liam is a workaholic," Ruhland said. "Sometimes it got to the point where it kind of annoyed me on a Sunday nights when I was trying to watch NFL football. He was like, 'Hey, I think your right step needs to be a little bit farther away' or 'What do you think about this double team?' I'm like, 'Liam, I'm trying to watch the Bears right now. Can we worry about this on Monday?' "But that's how he is. Nobody watches more film." This same focus translates to the weight room, an area where Ruhland called Eichen- berg a "workout freak," traits he developed while still an underclassman at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland. According to Wildcats coach Chuck Kyle, crucial to any high school football program with national success is the team's intensity in the weight room during the offseason. No one set a better example for this than Eichen- berg. As his teammates watched him grind, his work ethic rubbed off on them, including Darian Kinnard, two years behind Eichenberg at Saint Ignatius. Today, Kinnard is an offensive tackle at Kentucky and started all 13 games as a sopho- more. In Kyle's opinion, Kinnard is well on his way to a career in the NFL. "I give Liam a lot of credit with that," Kyle said. "Darian needed a lot of work when he was a freshman. He was a big kid, but he was far from being ready to play seriously. "That was an important step for Darian to hang around with Liam in the weight room." Eichenberg is receiving his own love from NFL scouts, as well as college football writers and statisticians. Kraemer was at the top of his game in 2019 when his season was cut short by a leg injury at Michigan. The fifth-year senior did not allow a sack during 202 pass-block snaps last year. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA

Articles in this issue

view archives of 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview - Digital Edition