Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame Football Pair Named Preseason Freshman All-Americans by On3

If Notre Dame is to win big in 2024, a few true freshmen are going to be heavily counted on

Nick Shepkowski

Notre Dame linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (27) at Notre Dame spring football practice Thursday, March 7, 2024, at the Irish Athletics Center in South Bend.
Notre Dame linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (27) at Notre Dame spring football practice Thursday, March 7, 2024, at the Irish Athletics Center in South Bend. / GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Notre Dame’s veteran stars have turned plenty of heads this preseason, making the lists of multiple All-American teams. Now two Fighting Irish freshmen are also making headlines as Anthonie Knapp and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa have both earned preseason Freshman All-American honors from On3.

Knapp is in a fight for the starting left tackle position while Kyngstronn Viliamu-Asa will see significant time at linebacker this fall regardless if he's considered a starter or not.

On3 on Notre Dame's Anthonie Knapp

"nthonie Knapp is already running with the first team at left tackle for Notre Dame following Charles Jagusah’s season-ending injury in camp. This is a prospect that we loved at On3. He was a considerable outlier for On3 in the rankings process, finishing as a top-100 prospect, and is one who we simply loved on film. Anthonie Knapp is highly technical, he’s been coached very well at the high school level and had some of the best film that we saw, particularly senior film, at offensive line in the 2024 cycle. He has true positional versatility, he could play a number of spots on the offensive line. - Charles Power, On3

On3 on Notre Dame's Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa

Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa was the most developed linebacker that we evaluated in the 2024 cycle. We felt like he was a shoo-in to be a preseason True Freshman All-American given his level of development, his elite instincts particularly defending the run, and his understanding of defensive schemes. This is a guy who we feel like is a very likely defensive captain of the future at Notre Dame, and it sounds like he is set to make an early impact in South Bend. - Charles Power, On3

Nick's Quick Take:

The most interesting part of this to me is the difference in feel of positions.

Often when a freshman steps in and plays at a high level, that puts a good team over the top and goes a long way in making it a great one. Think of Rocket Ismail and Notre Dame in 1988.

In the case of Viliamu-Asa, you can see the talent level of the linebackers growing significantly in recent years. Sure, there has been a guy or two in the linebacker corps in recent years that you might like but the depth hasn't looked like this with the unit in what feels like ages.

The same can be said about the offensive line but not in a good way. Anthonie Knapp fighting for a starting tackle spot brings back memories of Notre Dame in 2018 when the Irish had to replace both Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey on the offensive line.

That team wound up being more than OK as it made the College Football Playoff, but the offensive line was hardly special that fall. Perhaps it serves as a roadmap of this year could be successful without a great offensive line for Notre Dame.

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Nick Shepkowski
NICK SHEPKOWSKI

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