Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1535097
8 SUMMER 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE R arely do college football coaches speak so matter-of-factly. Why pin yourself to hills to die on when you can "coach speak" your way through press conferences and be ambiguous in- stead of absolute? Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman has become a bit of a master of roundabouts in his four years at the helm in South Bend. He's not alone. Don't hate the player; hate the game. Freeman doesn't owe anybody anything in front of a microphone. At the end of spring ball, though, he was pretty positively transparent about Notre Dame's offensive line. It wasn't forced optimism, either. What he said came across as genuine and rooted in what he's seen from his big men up front, not just what he hopes to see. "I like that they all have big-game, big-moment experience," Freeman said. "They're all really talented football players. High-ceiling guys." Freeman even went as far as to say, from left to right, sophomore Anthonie Knapp and seniors Billy Schrauth and Ashton Craig, junior Charles Jagusah and senior Aamil Wagner are Notre Dame's assumed five starters for the 2025 season opener. Anything could happen between now and Aug. 31 at Miami, but those are the guys who have that big-game, big- moment experience Freeman spoke of. Wagner started all 16 games of Notre Dame's runner-up season in 2024. Knapp started the first 15 before he in- jured his ankle. Schrauth was injured with an ankle ailment of his own in the middle part of the year, but he came back in time for the College Football Playoff. Craig only started three games, but one of those was at Texas A&M. Jagusah only started one game — the national title. He came off the sideline to play right guard in a pinch in the CFP semifinal. It doesn't get any bigger than that. Freeman said he believes Schrauth and Wagner are as close to their respective ceilings as anyone else in the Notre Dame offensive line room. Again, more trans- parency. That's a nugget he didn't have to offer, unprompted. It's also a window into setting a foundation for what the Irish's offensive line will look like this fall. Schrauth will start at left guard. Wagner will start at right tackle. Be- tween them, the starters have to be Craig at center and Jagusah at right guard. Craig clearly beat out Pat Coogan and anyone else who tried to start over him last offseason. Jagusah would have been UNDER THE DOME Of Notre Dame's offensive line, head coach Marcus Freeman said, "They're all really talented football players. High-ceiling guys." PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER TRENCH WORK Notre Dame could have the personnel on both lines to make more CFP noise