Notre Dame to start freshman Anthonie Knapp at LT, sophomore Sam Pendleton at LG in Week 1 at Texas A&M
After over two weeks of speculation, Notre Dame has made two bold moves on the offensive line official. The Irish will start freshman Anthonie Knapp at left tackle and sophomore Sam Pendleton at left guard on Saturday against Texas A&M, head coach Marcus Freeman confirmed Monday.
Knapp, as a true freshman, will be making his college football debut in Week 1. Pendleton played 15 snaps in 2023, spread across Week 13 at Stanford and the Sun Bowl against Oregon State.
Notre Dame will enter a pivotal matchup against the Aggies with six combined starts across its offensive line of (from left to right) Knapp, Pendleton and juniors Ashton Craig, Billy Schrauth and Aamil Wagner.
On Aug. 5, the Irish announced sophomore and presumed starting left tackle Charles Jagusah will miss the 2024 season with a pectoralis injury suffered during practice. Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph said the next day that he expected graduate student Tosh Baker to “step up and own that [left tackle] spot.”
However, by Aug. 10, Knapp was working with the first team at left tackle. And that same day, Pendleton ran with the ones at left guard.
Throughout the offseason, seniors Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler — who started 13 and 10 games last season, respectively — were competing for that spot. But Pendleton leapfrogged both of them in fall camp, and Knapp quickly passed Baker once Jagusah went down.
Knapp enrolled in January and impressed the Notre Dame coaching staff, performing particularly well in the Blue-Gold Game. On Aug. 19, On3 announced that Knapp made its 2024 preseason true freshman All-American team, along with linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.
“Knapp’s development has been pretty remarkable outside,” Rudolph said Aug. 6. “And he’s really a consistent football player. And, ideally, as we move along, I think we find a home for him inside. But not many freshmen come in and can play like that, especially against this defense and this volume and stuff.”
Pendleton worked his way onto the depth chart by bowl season as a freshman in 2023, and he took reps as the backup center in spring ball and early in fall camp.
The Irish and Aggies kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, on ABC.
The Knapp file
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 291 pounds
High school: Roswell (Ga.) High
On3 Industry Ranking: No. 265 player (four stars), No. 18 interior offensive lineman and No. 33 player in Georgia
• Committed to Notre Dame without announcing a list of finalists, but held offers from Penn State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Missouri and Louisville.
• Rudolph initially recruited him at Virginia Tech, where he coached in 2022. Twenty-two days after Rudolph took the job at Notre Dame, Knapp committed to the Irish.
• An On3 outlier, Knapp was the No. 96 player and No. 5 interior offensive lineman on the 2024 On300.
• Began his high school career as a tight end and a linebacker, but moved to offensive line as a sophomore in high school. Knapp initially hated the change, but he fell in love with offensive tackle during his first game at the position.
Related: How Anthonie Knapp plans to find place on Notre Dame offensive line
• Allowed only one sack in final two years at Roswell, according to FightingIrish.com, and picked up 195 “knockdowns” (i.e. pancake blocks) during that time.
The Pendleton file
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 305 pounds
High school: Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan
On3 Industry Ranking: No. 425 player (three stars), No. 32 interior offensive lineman and No. 15 player in North Carolina
• Committed to Notre Dame over Florida, Michigan and North Carolina State.
• Also initially recruited by Rudolph at Virginia Tech. Pendleton announced a top-five of Clemson, Michigan, North Carolina State, Penn State and Virginia Tech shortly before Notre Dame offered him under then-offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, to whom he committed April 25, 2022.
• Born via in vitro fertilization (IVF), along with a twin sister, Emma, who plays basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne. Pendleton overcame long odds to become a Notre Dame offensive lineman; he was born with an enlarged kidney and had seven subsequent surgeries.
• Made his Notre Dame debut in Week 13 of last season in a Notre Dame win over Stanford, appearing once more in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State as Schrauth’s backup at left guard.
