The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will already be without one starter on their offensive line during in next week’s national championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, but it sounds like there’s a real chance they could be down another one as well.
Earlier this week, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman announced that standout left tackle Anthonie Knapp will be unavailable for Monday’s national championship game against the Buckeyes due to a high ankle sprain sustained during the semifinal victory over Penn State.
Knapp, a true freshman, secured the starting left tackle position during fall camp and started all 15 games for the Fighting Irish this season and earned Freshman All-American honors as he established himself as one of college football’s most promising young stars.
In Knapp’s absence, graduate senior Tosh Baker will step into the starting spot. And there’s a chance that he won’t be the only new starter on the offensive line.
In addition to Knapp’s injury, Notre Dame starting right guard Rocco Spindler also suffered an ankle injury in the win against Penn State. Unlike Knapp, however, he has not yet been ruled out for Monday’s game.
“We’ll see how he progresses the week of practice,” Freeman said according to ESPN. “I know he’ll give everything he has to make sure he’s prepared. As far as the starting lineup, we’ll do what’s best for our program. We’ve got to figure that out. We have a week of preparation to make sure we get the right guys to start this game, and we’ll see what that is here in the next couple of days.”
Needless to say, this is certainly not an ideal situation for Notre Dame heading into a showdown against the vaunted Ohio State defensive line, which is has been playing its best football in recent weeks.
In Ohio State’s win over Texas, Ohio State defensive ends Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau combined for 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 2 hurries and 2 pass breakups along with the forced fumble and fumble recovery touchdown from Sawyer that effectively ended the game.
We’ll have to see whether or not Spindler will be able to play in Monday’s game and how Notre Dame is able to respond to this adversity.
