Zeke Correll shares biggest change in coaching style for Notre Dame offensive line

Despite boasting one of the top groups in the country last season, the Notre Dame offensive line will go into 2023 with at least a little bit of uncertainty following a position coaching change.

Veteran offensive line coach Harry Hiestand retired following the 2022 season, replaced by Joe Rudolph.

“There’s a lot of differences, I’d say, but coach Rudolph, I would say coach Rudolph in our meetings we go over communication and making sure that our targets are on point and landmarks, stuff like that,” offensive lineman Zeke Correll said. “It’s really a lot of the same stuff, a lot of the offensive line coaches they run it the same way.”

Under Hiestand’s direction last year Notre Dame was excellent.

The Fighting Irish finished 35th nationally in rushing offense, while finishing 40th in sacks allowed. Notre Dame was simply able to lean on a lot of opponents late, riding the run game to a smooth finish.

Things will look a little different up front on the Notre Dame offensive line this fall. Or at least things have been a little different behind the scenes.

“As far as coaching styles go, coach Rudolph I would say is a little less aggressive but expects the same out of us nonetheless,” Correll said.

Turnover on the Notre Dame offensive line coaching staff or not, the Fighting Irish expect to be plenty competitive up front this fall. The bonds in the unit extend well beyond just a position coach, though obviously the more continuity the better, typically.

Still, Correll feels like his group is ready to roll and can help get Rudolph out to a good start in South Bend, Ind.

“We’re really tight-knit group. I mean coaches always come and go, you go to school because that’s the place you want to be and you care about the people there,” Correll said. “Our offensive line is very, very close, whether it’s the same coach or not. I think the greatest thing about offensive line is all success is shared success. When someone succeeds we all succeed and that just makes us really close and we do everything together, and that helps our unit play better as well.”

The Notre Dame offensive line tapped Rudolph for leadership after he spent one season at Virginia Tech.

He brings eight years of experience coaching offensive lines in the Power Five. He is best known for his 2015-21 stint as Wisconsin’s offensive line coach. He was also the Badgers’ offensive coordinator and associate head coach in each of his seven seasons on staff. He followed head coach Paul Chryst to Wisconsin after three years at Pittsburgh, where he was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator.

Wisconsin, long lauded for its offensive line play, had two top-15 finishes in yards per carry in Rudolph’s tenure (2018 and 2019). The Badgers were top-35 in two other seasons (2021 and 2017). They were inside the top 30 in sacks allowed per game three times in his seven-year stint and finished top-45 in three other seasons. They produced five first-team All-American offensive linemen under his watch.