Veteran Joshua Lugg Is Thriving With Harry Hiestand Back In Charge
If there’s a Notre Dame football player who deserves to be called an “old man” it’s sixth-year senior offensive guard Josh Lugg. How long has the Fighting Irish offensive lineman been on campus? Long enough that the Under Armour training camp gear he wore in the summer of 2017, his freshman season, is now considered vintage.
“I’ve actually brought out all my 2017 freshman camp gear that I've been wearing around The Gug,” Lugg said after a recent Irish practice. “It still fits and it’s also the best gear that we ever got. Under Armour 2017 was awesome, so I’ve been wearing it around and the freshman are like 'Yo, where’d you get that?'”
Lugg’s response?
“A long time ago, son.”
That 2017 season is more remembered for the massive overhaul made to the Notre Dame coaching staff in the wake of a 4-8 season, the team’s only sub-500 record in the past 13 years.
Kelly brought in new offensive, defensive and specials teams coordinators, and maybe most importantly, he hired Director of Football Performance Matt Balis. “Body by Balis” became the catchphrase of the Irish that offseason.
Lugg is now in his sixth year with the Irish, which means he has had six summers of Balis’s grueling conditioning, and this summer head coach Marcus Freeman gave Balis a lot of power to push the team.
“We talk about no breaking point,” Lugg said. “Like see how far we can push that breaking point now, to the point where it’s non-existent, so we get in fall camp and our first four practices are in the heat. Guys are finishing practice, guys are finishing well (and) guys are pushing through the exhaustion. That comes with Balis’s physical conditioning in the weight room, but also the mental preparation.”
That 2017 season was also the last of Harry Hiestand’s original six-year stint as Notre Dame’s offensive line coach. It’s been full circle for Hiestand as well as, and he now gets a chance to coach his once former pupil.
“It’s great,” Lugg said of having Hiestand back. “Every day is the same approach, whether that is spring ball or fall camp. You’ve got to have the same mindset, but there is a little more urgency (with) the details and every minute of the day you’ve got to be doing something.”
Hiestand hasn’t been the only familiar face back at Notre Dame practices this year though. The offensive line coach welcomed former Irish first round NFL Draft picks Zack Martin and Quenton Nelson back at practice in the spring to work with the current linemen.
“Coach Hiestand brought those guys in and they were willing to come in, because they respect what Coach Hiestand has done for them and what this program means and the standards that we’re trying to establish here,” Lugg explained. “They gave us a lot of good notes and good feedback. When they leave, it’s not like those notes or feedback left.”
Nelson and Martin, who play for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, respectively, have a combined eight First Team All-Pro selections between them. Lugg still writes the letters “GG” on his hand every day in practice. It’s a reminder from Martin to “Gain Ground” on every snap.
In addition to the physical aspects of playing line, Hiestand has stressed the importance of communication to his line since his return as well. Always a vital part of line play, but probably even more important this season, with an offensive line that has no returning players in the same position from the start of last season. Multiply the importance times ten for a night road game at Ohio State to open 2022.
“It is vital for all of us to communicate so we can see things through one set of eyes,” said Lugg. “We have to constantly be talking, pre-snap, during the snap and then post-snap. It is vital for all of us to be on the same page so that we can protect whoever’s at QB. It starts with Zeke getting up there identifying the front, and we’ll help him, too.”
Fifth-year senior Jarrett Patterson had been Notre Dame’s center for the past three years, but he has moved to left guard this season. The new man in the middle of the line is Zeke Correll, who earned the spot in the spring after Patterson tore a pectoral muscle. Lugg lines up next to Correll every day and he has seen tremendous growth from the senior since Hiestand’s arrival.
“I think once Coach Hiestand came in he responded really, really well to his coaching,” Lugg said of Correll. “Coach Hiestand really challenged him to be the center guy in our line. When you have that, you have to be vocal and you have to be willing to tell guys to the right and left of you 'Hey, you’re wrong’ or 'This is what we have to do.' His leadership, in a vocal way, has really increased and it’s helped the entire offensive line.”
With Lugg at right guard and Correll at center, sophomores Blake Fisher and Joe Alt are the right and left tackles, respectively, and senior Andrew Kristofic has been repping at left guard while Patterson is out with a foot injury. Patterson could practice again by this weekend.
No matter who starts at those spots, it’s a starkly different line than the Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Sam Mustipher, Tommy Kraemer and Alex Bars line that started when Lugg was a 300-pound freshman six years ago, and Lugg is now soaking up his final go-round at Notre Dame.
“It’s kind of nostalgic this year,” Lugg said. “It’s the last one. I’ve been really trying to enjoy it. Every minute, seeing the young guys come in and trying to make sure that they’re having fun and creating good energy in the building. It’s easy when we have a coaching staff that wants to contribute to that energy and the vibes.”
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