Notre Dame football has a position switch to consider that could turn the offense from good to elite heading into the 2025 season
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Notre Dame offensive line heading into the 2025 college football season, and for good reason. Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is heading into year three with the Irish program and there is a ton of talent returning. This has a chance to be the best line in […]
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Notre Dame offensive line heading into the 2025 college football season, and for good reason. Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is heading into year three with the Irish program and there is a ton of talent returning. This has a chance to be the best line in several years.
Most attention this offseason will center around the competition at left tackle between Charles Jagusah and Anthonie Knapp. Whoever loses that battle is viewed as the potential front runner for the vacant right guard position, but it won’t just be handed to either. Perhaps the biggest wildcard of the overall offensive line group is redshirt freshman Guerby Lambert, who has an interesting listing on the Notre Dame roster.
As it currently stands, Lambert is the second heaviest player on the roster at 334 pounds, and the heaviest offensive lineman. Coincidentally Jagusah has dropped some weight, now coming in at 320 pounds. The reasoning for that is most likely with the intention to stick at offensive tackle. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Jagusah looks at the lighter weight.
When it comes to the right guard spot, there are a lot of Notre Dame fans who have been persistent to move Jagusah inside. Lambert, who is a similar build and athlete, is usually talked about only in the offensive tackle conversation. The question that I’d like to ask is, why?
From a talent level perspective, there is a lot to be excited about with Lambert entering year two. He is long, and is extremely powerful and explosive. The thing that held Lambert back a bit as a freshman was his rawness in pass protection. Lambert would admit that himself, that being a bit of a learning curve in the transition.
With that knowledge in mind, as well as having a wealth of talent at offensive tackle returning (you can throw in starting right tackle Aamil Wagner as well), there could be some interesting potential to let Lambert compete inside at right guard. In that slot, his rawness in pass protection can be mitigated and power can be accentuated.
A hypothetical offensive line of Jagusah, Billy Schrauth, Ashton Craig, Lambert, and Wagner could feed families. That is a very physically impressive group that presents a ton of upside. Moving Lambert to guard is a move that hasn’t been mentioned much, but could potentially take this group to a whole other level.
If Notre Dame was to make this move, it doesn’t have to be a long term one. We have seen teams like Alabama utilize Evan Neal at offensive guard early in his career before shifting out to tackle. This is a strategy to try and get the best five offensive linemen on the field.
Notre Dame football already has a can’t miss target in the 2027 class, and every Irish fan will agree after they stop feeling so old
Notre Dame football already has a priority target in the 2027 class.
