Notre Dame OL Anthonie Knapp Entered Week One with Belief, Enters Week Two with Confidence
Left tackle was the hot topic on Notre Dame message boards over the last eight months - and rightfully so as All-American Joe Alt and right tackle Blake Fisher bolted for the NFL after three years.
Charles Jagusah was a lock to start at left tackle, but he suffered a pectoral injury during camp and will likely be gone for the entire season.
That lit up the message boards as true freshman Anthonie Knapp quickly became the starter. Folks soon realized his first game would be under the lights of Kyle Field against one of the nation’s top defensive lines, which is far from the ideal scenario.
Saturday had its ups and downs, but the silver lining is that the Georgia native will find life a little smoother moving forward.
“It was quite the experience,” Knapp stated. “I don’t think there’s anything better than being a true freshman, getting thrown into a stadium like that, 107,000 people. I think the most I’ve ever played for was a spring game, 30,000 people. But once you get on the field, it feels like you’re almost in a video game. You hear the noise, but you don’t really feel the people, if that makes sense.”
Knapp will be the first to tell you there was some anxiety walking out on the field for the first time, but it didn’t take long for him to find a comfort level despite the rowdy environment.
“I would say after maybe two or three plays going against the best - kind of feeling my technique out and them out a little bit,” Knapp said. “I know what I’m capable of. I felt once I got that under my belt, I was confident in what I could do. The anxiety is out of the way, the coaches believe in me, the people next to me believe in me and Riley (Leonard) believes in me, so it’s time to play football.”
The 6-foot-4, 294-pounder was also part of a viral moment before the game as Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman almost lost his mind hyping up his team coming out of the tunnel.
“I’m looking at Anthonie Knapp,” stated Freeman. “I’m looking at Sam Pendleton. It’s their first time. They’re freshmen and they’re playing this big environment. It’s almost like you go into parent mode, and you want to take that pressure off of them.”
It’s not hard to imagine the thoughts running through Knapp’s mind walking down the tunnel into 107,000 people. Freeman’s energy allowed Knapp to take a small step back and remind himself he wasn’t alone.
“It’s truly family here,” explained Knapp. “Since I stepped on campus, I could feel it. I knew these guys had my back. They wouldn’t have put me in a position like that if they didn’t have my back. They all believed in me. Coach Freeman, before practice comes up, he’ll dap every player up. He says whatever, ‘Have a good day.’ He’s always telling me that he believes in me.
“I got all these guys, these great boys, best friends. We’re all having to feed off each other’s energy, that helped a lot. It’s like, you’re not going out there alone. You’re going out there with 22 people. And we’re 22 people all trying to prove 107,000 people wrong.”
Experiencing the big game atmosphere of college football is one piece of the puzzle. The other piece was performing at a high level against two of the best defensive ends in the country in Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart.
It certainly wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but Knapp and everyone in the program knew it would be a roller coaster ride. Once again, Knapp found success at times, which served as a significant confidence boost and building block for his future.
“I lost a couple reps,” stated Knapp. “It was pretty bad. I mean, that’s gonna happen. It’s inevitable. But at the same time, I won a couple reps. I looked pretty good, which, once you get that confidence in, it’s like, ‘Alright, it’s football.’ The field doesn’t care how old you are. They don’t care how old you are. They’re gonna play their game, I’m gonna go play my game.”
Knapp did get hit with a holding call, which he didn’t agree with, but he also didn’t dwell on it, which is perhaps the most significant piece as he was able to move to the next play.
“I get why they called it,” Knapp explained. “He had all his weight on me. I’m not pulling him down. You can clearly see my arm chop his weight down and him fall immediately. I wasn’t pulling him with my left hand, but I think it’s because my left hand was there, they called it.
“I was just like, ‘You know, it is what it is.’ It’s the game. You just gotta roll with the punches. You don’t really have a choice. You can’t go and argue with the ref, you know? But you live and you learn. Maybe next time, don’t try to make a highlight reel or whatever it is. But I get why they called it, you know. Gotta be humble about it.”
The other impressive piece was Knapp was playing a game within the game with the arm chop on Scourton.
It came from film study during his preparation from the game, but also listening to Joe Rudolph and knowing he had to force Scourton to switch up how he was rushing.
“The biggest thing for an edge rusher like that is you got to mess up their rhythm,” Knapp said. “The more you just kind of play with their rhythm, you’re playing their game and you’re reacting. If they want to bull-rush me, which I know they’re going to because I’m watching so much film — and I don’t blame them because I’m light — I knew I was gonna get that long-arm. You gotta chop it immediately, because that’s the thing I could do. It just kind of gets them thinking, right?
“Now they’re thinking, ‘Alright, I want to put my weight on them.’ Once they’re thinking that, then I can move onto a different punch, whether it’s a firmer set or anything, just trying to play the game. It’s a game inside of the game, so any advantage I can get, I will.”
Knapp’s film study isn’t new as he realized in high school he didn’t have the size of say an Alt or Fisher, so he took on himself to find ways to maximize his game, which he’s seeing pay off now.
“I kind of missed a lot of physical attributes of a tackle, so I tried to find every edge I could get,” said Knapp. “Whether it’s because I wasn’t too big — I mean, I’m still not too big. I’m 290 right now, 290-ish, which isn’t the ideal size for a left tackle at Notre Dame.
“Any edge I can get watching all the film, anything I can do, notebook full of what their moves is, what their tendencies is, and I try to study that the best I can, perform the best I can. Go out to practice; good thing I got some great scouts that help me out with these moves. It’s any edge I can get.”
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