Notre Dame Hopes Experience Can Help Anthonie Knapp Become A Star In 2025

Last season, Notre Dame elected to go with true freshman Anthonie Knapp to start at left tackle after their projected starter went down for the regular season due to an injury sustained in fall camp. Throughout camp, Knapp battled fifth year senior Tosh Baker and fellow true freshman Guerby Lambert for the starting role and was named the starter ahead of their season opener against Texas A&M. 

It was an up and down season for the 6-4 true freshman, but his progression throughout the season is what helped propel this offense to the national title game. In 2024, Knapp allowed a team leading 31 pressures including seven hits plus sacks on the quarterback. Six of the seven hits plus sacks he allowed came in the first six games of their 16 game season; from the Georgia Tech game until the Penn State game, Knapp played significantly better as a pass blocker and didn't allow a single sack.

Where he truly shined was in the run game. For a long stretch of the regular season, Knapp was their most impactful run blocker and finished with PFF grades of 72.7, 77.7, 78.6 and 83.5. He had the edge sealing block on Mikail Kamara in the first round of the playoff that freed running back Jeremiyah Love for his electric 98 yard touchdown run. 

Last season, Knapp racked up a total of 15 starts and played 843 snaps, unfortunately, he was injured in the first half of the semifinals against Penn State which held him out for the National Championship game against Ohio State. Of his 843 snaps, 451 were pass blocking snaps, and he didn't allow a single sack from Georgia Tech until the Penn State game where he only played six pass blocking snaps. 

Knapp returns for his sophomore year and is expected to make a jump heading into 2025. He returns along with left guard Billy Schrauth, center Ashton Craig and right tackle Aamil Wagner. With the injury to right guard Charles Jagusah, who will be out for an undetermined amount of time, there is now a question mark heading into fall camp around the starting lineup, something we believed was shored up exiting spring ball. 

Pass protection was an issue for Knapp throughout the season last year, no question about it, but his continued improvement throughout 2024 was extremely promising. This season, they won't have a dynamic runner under center like Riley Leonard to evade pressure in the same fashion, so Knapp's improvement is more of a necessity than it is a preference. If he's able to make that jump, he has the potential to join a long line of impactful Notre Dame left tackles that precedes him.