Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal are the best offensive line coaching duo in the country. So how does that duo end up with a line that couldn't move Notre Dame in short yardage?
David Lake from 247Sports summed up what Saturday taught us: this line can hold its own against a CFP-caliber front, but it isn't going to mash. We came out thinking we could lean on the run game, and it didn't work in the key short-yardage spots. We didn't convert a third down on the first drive and had to punt from midfield. Then came the red zone.
Lake's takeaway for Shannon Dawson is that he probably has to work around the offensive line more than he planned before Notre Dame. It's also a reminder of what Malachi Toney covers up. Get it to him quick, and whatever's wrong up front disappears for a first down.
So we went class by class.
Cooper was a three-star, an 84 on 247, and an overweight kid who trimmed down. He became a star for us and is now an NFL player. Lake remembers how he got on the field. Laurence Seymore was getting snaps and struggled against Mike Elko's Duke, so the staff elevated Cooper, burned his redshirt, and he started for three years.
McCoy was an 86 and is now a starter. Lake thinks he's been solid at tackle but is more of a guard long term.
Two starters out of a transition class. If we got that every year, we'd be in great shape.
Everybody in that group is starting somewhere. Mauigoa was elite for three years and a top-10 pick. Okunlola is our starting left tackle. Tripp, who started out as a four-star from Baltimore and slid in the rankings, is starting at center for FIU. Kinsler is starting at Ole Miss. Tinilau took a winding path to James Madison and plays inside and outside there, though he's banged up right now.
Lake's standard for offensive line recruiting is that around a 50 percent hit rate means you're doing a good job. With Mauigoa as a grand slam and Okunlola a good player, that's still fine. With offensive linemen, you throw numbers at it and let the cream rise. And the 2022 and 2023 guys were last year's starters.
Markel Bell was a four-star junior college tackle, the highest-rated player in the class, and he lived up to it. He was arguably the best left tackle in the country last year. He's now starting for the Philadelphia Eagles as a rookie. That's a home run.
The problem is that the staff thought it was getting Bell for a third year. The waiver didn't come through, and there wasn't a good plan B.
Look at the rest of the class. Deryc Plazz is a backup at Auburn who doesn't really play. Juan Minaya hasn't played this year.
Take away two elite years of Bell and you got no production. This might be the single biggest reason we're here.
Lake agreed and pointed at the interior. If Minaya were ready to plug a hole as a veteran who's been in the program for years, it would change things. That's why the Max Buchanan injury matters so much. Against a front like Notre Dame's, SJ Alofaituli's size shows up, and so does Ben Congdon's inexperience.
At tackle, it was Jaden Wilkerson and Demetrius Campbell, both Orlando basketball players. Both were projects.
Here's the math that opens eyes. Mauigoa left after three years and Bell after two. Across those two classes, the high school tackles are Plazz, Wilkerson and Campbell. That isn't very good.
Lake still believes in Wilkerson. There's something there, maybe as a guy who transfers and starts somewhere, but it isn't there now. He was always more skeptical of Campbell, though he's fine taking a swing on a physical upside guy if you're throwing numbers at the position.
The part of that class that makes him look sideways is that SJ isn't a center yet.
Lake's rule: you have to land a tackle with starting potential every year. And if you're going to take projects like Wilkerson and Campbell, which I'd still do, you have to layer something on top so they have time to develop.
We didn't.
"If you're expecting to land a future NFL draft pick as an offensive tackle in the portal, I think those are very few and far between," he said. "If you are able to get one of those guys, it's going to be starting quarterback type of money."
Offensive tackles and big defensive linemen are the positions to invest in out of high school, because those bodies aren't walking around. Teams don't let good tackles hit the portal. The ones who do usually come with a reason, or they're late bloomers from the Group of Six.
He had some struggles at the All-American game and has an unorthodox skill set, though the things he does well are special. He's coming from Nixa, Missouri, with a lot of pressure on him.
Then he started at left tackle all spring and had very competitive reps against Lightfoot, Damon Wilson and Armondo Blount. He lost some and won some. His power and size stood out, and he moved well enough to let the offense function. At that point, any worries felt trivial. Five-star left tackle, starts at a big program, three and done.
It didn't go that way. Samson won the left tackle job when he came back after missing the spring.
Cantwell moved around and landed at guard, which doesn't fit him. He's tall and not a great bender. And he's a big-time thinker, very detail-oriented, and I think it got in his head. The expectations and the change snowballed into a guy who wasn't as confident and was thinking a lot. Okunlola went through some of the same things as a freshman.
Lake's read lines up, and he pinpointed the wrench: Okunlola's offseason surgery. With Samson out in the spring, you had to put someone at left tackle, so it made sense to put Cantwell there. If Samson had been healthy, Lake thinks we'd have seen Cantwell work on the interior in the spring, settle in and play there as a freshman.
Instead, he goes from being praised as the left tackle to being moved to guard in fall camp. Lake isn't saying the staff made a mistake. Samson was out. But that sequence hit a guy who probably doesn't adjust quickly to changes like that. Now they've hit the reset button and are letting him figure it out slowly.
Lake would like to see Cantwell in some kind of interior rotation now, for his natural road-grading power as a run blocker. You could even slide McCoy to right guard and put Cantwell at right tackle. Neither of them is so dominant that moving them would be an offense.
The risk is real, though. At the level he's at right now, he could go out there and not perform, and then the confidence gets worse. Or your quarterback gets hurt.
Again, none of this is about effort.
The worry is depth. If someone goes down, who's next?
Lake breaks it all down on the Lake Show on the CanesInsight YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next one.
David Lake from 247Sports summed up what Saturday taught us: this line can hold its own against a CFP-caliber front, but it isn't going to mash. We came out thinking we could lean on the run game, and it didn't work in the key short-yardage spots. We didn't convert a third down on the first drive and had to punt from midfield. Then came the red zone.
Lake's takeaway for Shannon Dawson is that he probably has to work around the offensive line more than he planned before Notre Dame. It's also a reminder of what Malachi Toney covers up. Get it to him quick, and whatever's wrong up front disappears for a first down.
So we went class by class.
2022: as good as a transition class gets
Mario's first class gave us Anez Cooper and Matthew McCoy.Cooper was a three-star, an 84 on 247, and an overweight kid who trimmed down. He became a star for us and is now an NFL player. Lake remembers how he got on the field. Laurence Seymore was getting snaps and struggled against Mike Elko's Duke, so the staff elevated Cooper, burned his redshirt, and he started for three years.
McCoy was an 86 and is now a starter. Lake thinks he's been solid at tackle but is more of a guard long term.
Two starters out of a transition class. If we got that every year, we'd be in great shape.
2023: one grand slam, some good, some gone
This class had two five-stars, Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola, plus Antonio Tripp Jr., Tommy Kinsler IV and Frankie Tinilau.Everybody in that group is starting somewhere. Mauigoa was elite for three years and a top-10 pick. Okunlola is our starting left tackle. Tripp, who started out as a four-star from Baltimore and slid in the rankings, is starting at center for FIU. Kinsler is starting at Ole Miss. Tinilau took a winding path to James Madison and plays inside and outside there, though he's banged up right now.
Lake's standard for offensive line recruiting is that around a 50 percent hit rate means you're doing a good job. With Mauigoa as a grand slam and Okunlola a good player, that's still fine. With offensive linemen, you throw numbers at it and let the cream rise. And the 2022 and 2023 guys were last year's starters.
2024: where it went off the rails
This is the class that explains where we are.Markel Bell was a four-star junior college tackle, the highest-rated player in the class, and he lived up to it. He was arguably the best left tackle in the country last year. He's now starting for the Philadelphia Eagles as a rookie. That's a home run.
The problem is that the staff thought it was getting Bell for a third year. The waiver didn't come through, and there wasn't a good plan B.
Look at the rest of the class. Deryc Plazz is a backup at Auburn who doesn't really play. Juan Minaya hasn't played this year.
Take away two elite years of Bell and you got no production. This might be the single biggest reason we're here.
Lake agreed and pointed at the interior. If Minaya were ready to plug a hole as a veteran who's been in the program for years, it would change things. That's why the Max Buchanan injury matters so much. Against a front like Notre Dame's, SJ Alofaituli's size shows up, and so does Ben Congdon's inexperience.
2025: the projects with no layer on top
SJ Alofaituli came out of Bishop Gorman as a highly rated center with great size and testing. Max Buchanan, a borderline three- or four-star from Seminole in the Orlando area, was going to be a pretty good guard this year, and the staff was excited about him internally. His injury is just bad luck.At tackle, it was Jaden Wilkerson and Demetrius Campbell, both Orlando basketball players. Both were projects.
Here's the math that opens eyes. Mauigoa left after three years and Bell after two. Across those two classes, the high school tackles are Plazz, Wilkerson and Campbell. That isn't very good.
Lake still believes in Wilkerson. There's something there, maybe as a guy who transfers and starts somewhere, but it isn't there now. He was always more skeptical of Campbell, though he's fine taking a swing on a physical upside guy if you're throwing numbers at the position.
The part of that class that makes him look sideways is that SJ isn't a center yet.
Lake's rule: you have to land a tackle with starting potential every year. And if you're going to take projects like Wilkerson and Campbell, which I'd still do, you have to layer something on top so they have time to develop.
We didn't.
Why not the portal?
Lake is fine with portal offensive linemen in general. We've done the center thing in the portal, and it worked. A portal guard is fine too. A portal tackle makes him more skeptical."If you're expecting to land a future NFL draft pick as an offensive tackle in the portal, I think those are very few and far between," he said. "If you are able to get one of those guys, it's going to be starting quarterback type of money."
Offensive tackles and big defensive linemen are the positions to invest in out of high school, because those bodies aren't walking around. Teams don't let good tackles hit the portal. The ones who do usually come with a reason, or they're late bloomers from the Group of Six.
2026: the right direction
The 2026 class is a step in the right direction, even though people will be screaming against it.- Jackson Cantwell. More on him below
- Ben Congdon. A true freshman starter. Ups and downs, but it couldn't be going much better. He's going to be good.
- Joel Ervin. He missed spring with a leg injury, which really hurt his chance to play early.
- Rhys Woodrow. He's been knocking on the door as a center or guard and kept getting hurt right when he was about to play. He's healthy now.
- Canon Pickett. Like Ervin, if he doesn't tear his ACL as a senior and gets a spring, he could be playing.
- JJ Sparks. A depth guy competing to move up.
- Jacob Hawks. A junior college tackle with potential, and a little ahead of schedule.
The Jackson Cantwell question
Everybody asks us this, so here's the full answer.He had some struggles at the All-American game and has an unorthodox skill set, though the things he does well are special. He's coming from Nixa, Missouri, with a lot of pressure on him.
Then he started at left tackle all spring and had very competitive reps against Lightfoot, Damon Wilson and Armondo Blount. He lost some and won some. His power and size stood out, and he moved well enough to let the offense function. At that point, any worries felt trivial. Five-star left tackle, starts at a big program, three and done.
It didn't go that way. Samson won the left tackle job when he came back after missing the spring.
Cantwell moved around and landed at guard, which doesn't fit him. He's tall and not a great bender. And he's a big-time thinker, very detail-oriented, and I think it got in his head. The expectations and the change snowballed into a guy who wasn't as confident and was thinking a lot. Okunlola went through some of the same things as a freshman.
Lake's read lines up, and he pinpointed the wrench: Okunlola's offseason surgery. With Samson out in the spring, you had to put someone at left tackle, so it made sense to put Cantwell there. If Samson had been healthy, Lake thinks we'd have seen Cantwell work on the interior in the spring, settle in and play there as a freshman.
Instead, he goes from being praised as the left tackle to being moved to guard in fall camp. Lake isn't saying the staff made a mistake. Samson was out. But that sequence hit a guy who probably doesn't adjust quickly to changes like that. Now they've hit the reset button and are letting him figure it out slowly.
Lake would like to see Cantwell in some kind of interior rotation now, for his natural road-grading power as a run blocker. You could even slide McCoy to right guard and put Cantwell at right tackle. Neither of them is so dominant that moving them would be an offense.
The risk is real, though. At the level he's at right now, he could go out there and not perform, and then the confidence gets worse. Or your quarterback gets hurt.
Again, none of this is about effort.
These five, until Buchanan comes back
We expect this group to stay as it is the rest of the way. We don't see a Notre Dame-type front again until the playoff, and by then Toney, the cheat code, is hopefully back, taking pressure off the line. Buchanan's return will bring some juice too.The worry is depth. If someone goes down, who's next?
Lake breaks it all down on the Lake Show on the CanesInsight YouTube channel. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next one.
