Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/998819
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 77 • It began with the left side of tackle Zack Martin and guard Chris Watt, who started 34 straight games together from 2011‑13, with the 21 team victories from 2012‑13 representing the most over a two‑year period at Notre Dame since the 10‑1‑1 and 11‑1 campaigns in 1992‑93. Martin would go on to become a first‑ round NFL Draft selection, a three‑time All‑Pro and a four‑time Pro Bowl pick. Watt was a third‑round draft choice, joining Mike Gandy (2001) as the lone Irish guards the previous 18 seasons to be selected in the first three rounds. • Next was the duo of left tackle Ronnie Stanley and center Nick Mar‑ tin who helped lead a 10‑win charge in 2015. Stanley was the first offensive lineman selected in the 2016 NFL Draft — No. 6, the high‑ est by a Notre Dame offensive lineman since eight‑time Pro Bowl pick George Kunz went No. 2 in 1969 — while Mar‑ tin (younger brother of Zack) was picked in the second round as the No. 2 center overall. • This past spring, the Irish offensive line achieved the ultimate daily double when unanimous All‑American left guard Quenton Nelson (No. 6 overall pick) and consensus All‑American left tackle Mike McGlinchey (No. 9 over‑ all) became the first two linemen off the draft board, and the first time since 1991 that any college football program featured two top‑10 picks along the of‑ fensive line in the same draft. After developing top‑flight talent for the next level, Hiestand this win‑ ter opted to return to his old stomping grounds as well, taking the same posi‑ tion with the Chicago Bears (where he was from 2005‑09) under newly hired head coach Matt Nagy. Regardless, the show must go on for the 2018 Fighting Irish offensive line, and the mantle of leadership has been passed on to another duo who are enter‑ ing their third full season as starters as fifth‑year seniors: left guard Alex Bars — who started at right guard in 2017 and right tackle in 2016 — and center Sam Mustipher. Like predecessors McGlinchey and Nelson, both were selected by team‑ mates among this year's four captains. Mustipher was among the top three vote‑getters with fellow engineering major Drue Tranquill, now an inside linebacker, who like Bars, is shifting to his third position at Notre Dame. A fourth captain's slot was to be de‑ termined in another vote at the end of spring, and there was little doubt who it was bound to be. "There is nothing more in the world I want than to get that fourth spot," Bars said a month before his election. "I need to work harder and be a better leader for the guys." Just like the McGlinchey/Nelson combo that aligned next to each other, both Mustipher and Bars are projected to be among the finest at their position in the country. Both were pegged as the No. 2 play‑ ers in the nation at their respective spots in the senior class by ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. Meanwhile, Mustipher joined junior cornerback Ju‑ lian Love as a preseason first‑team All‑ American on the Lindy's 2018 team, while Bars received the same accolade from Street & Smith's. Nevertheless, with McGlinchey, Nel‑ son and especially Hiestand's intense demeanor no longer in the meeting room or practice field, Bars acknowl‑ BY LOU SOMOGYI F rom 2012‑17, Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand's troops had a clear leadership hierarchy. One might say it has been a case of "doubling down" with premier tandems in college football. "Mike [McGlinchey] and Q [Quenton Nelson] were great players and leaders. Sam and I took a backseat to them in a way, but this is our team now. Everyone looks to the offensive line to set the standard of the team." BARS Mustipher (53) and Bars (71) were both selected to be among Notre Dame's four team captains for the 2018 season. ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has rated both as the No. 2 players in the nation at their respective positions in the senior class. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA