Cole Cubelic: 'There is a standard' that sets the Notre Dame offensive line apart

Cole Cubelic remembers standing on the field at the Superdome in New Orleans prior to kickoff of the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia. The ESPN analyst observed the Fighting Irish offensive line rather closely, naturally, considering he was a center for Auburn back in his day.

When Cubelic saw the way Charles Jagusah was preparing, it hit him just how deep and formidable the Notre Dame offensive line really was. Jagusah was warming up like someone who was going to start that game and play a big role in determining the outcome of it.

Only, Jagusah didn’t start.

He hadn’t started a game all season to that point because of a pectoral muscle injury he sustained in August. And yet, the Irish overcame that injury up front — and a few more seemingly devastating ones in the first month of the season — to beat Georgia. And beat Penn State. And compete with Ohio State in the national championship game.

Jagusah was indeed a part of those last two games; he came into the lineup as a result of a couple more offensive line injuries. The capacity in which he played against the Nittany Lions was most impressive to Cubelic. For all of Jagusah’s career, he’d been billed as the next great Notre Dame offensive tackle. He made his first career start at tackle in the 2023 Sun Bowl then was preparing to start the 2024 season at left tackle prior to the injury. But when he came in mid-game against PSU, he was thrown in at right guard out of necessity.

And he played proficiently well at the foreign position, a microcosm for what Cubelic believes to be one of the richest offensive line cultures in the country.

“They have multiple guys who want it,” Cubelic said this week on Always College Football. “They want it on their shoulders. They want it to fall on them. They’re OK with it being a line of scrimmage game. And it doesn’t matter what spot they’re put in. Fourth and one, third and 12, go play guard this week even though you haven’t done it all year long. OK, cool, I’ll go over there and knock the hell out of somebody.

“Whether it’s a guard playing center, a center playing guard, they just understand what it’s all about. They got nasty. They got wherewithal. And I’ll give Coach [Marcus] Freeman and his staff credit, too; they have a brilliant offensive coordinator who allows them to go be that. This is not a group they try to escape. It’s not a group they try to hide or cloud things around. They let them be that group.”

In his time as a media man over the last couple of decades, Cubelic said he’s gotten close with former Notre Dame offensive linemen Mike Golic Jr. and Aaron Taylor. He’s gleaned from them how the Irish always seem to have a Jagusah at their disposal.

Or a Joe Alt. Blake Fisher. Currently, Aamil Wagner and Anthonie Knapp. Billy Schrauth and Ashton Craig. The list of names goes on and on. Never should the Notre Dame offensive line be a weak spot.

“The room has never let itself get away from what it is and what it’s supposed to be and what they want it to be,” Cubelic said. “They know what they need to be, and they’ve never allowed it get too far away from that. There’s a bit of pride that comes with that. There’s a bit of awareness and wherewithal that comes with that. But there is a standard that you better hold high and go out and play that way.”

Long before Cubelic stood inside the Superdome and marveled at the Notre Dame offensive line, that very same position unit caught high levels of skepticism before the season opener at Texas A&M. It was feared then that, yes, the Notre Dame offensive line was a weak spot.

At that time, the Irish only had six combined starts among the five players they sent onto the field first to face the Aggies in front of well over 100,000 people at Kyle Field. How could such an inexperienced line hold up against some of the best pass rushers in the nation, Nic Scourton, Shemar Stewart and Shemar Turner?

“We talked to multiple people on our radio show before the season began last year like, ‘What are they going to do losing both tackles in the preseason, having no idea where they’re going to go? They’re going to be young,'” Cubelic said.

Not so young anymore. Battle-tested. Experienced. The line got through that game victoriously. The Irish won 13 of their next 15 games thereafter, too, to post one of the best seasons in program history. One of those 13? The Sugar Bowl vs. Georgia — Notre Dame’s first major bowl victory in over three decades.

“We’re sitting there in New Orleans watching them in the Sugar Bowl and they look like they’re going out there and still being the part of the team that can help them win football games,” Cubelic said.