After grading Joe Alt vs. Virginia earlier this week for the message board it got me excited to go back and watch the first start Alt and Andrew Kristofic had together vs. USC. Now that these two have had four starts and 95% of the Virginia Tech game playing side by side it is a lot of fun watching how different they are. I believe this comes from Andrew being in his third season in the program and Joe being in only his fifth month, but these two work so good together. The same goes with Andrew working in tandem with Jarrett Patterson. These two look like they have been playing together for much longer than the last month plus.
The differences between these two are Kristofic wants to maul you every chance he gets and he plays like a bully. Alt uses his footwork fundamentals along with his length to his advantage especially when the defensive ends want to speed rush him. Alt does have a mean streak in him which pops out on film when he is down blocking into the B gap where he has collected a handful of pancake blocks this season. I called this combination the other day thunder(Kristofic) and lightning(Alt) and it holds up with their two styles of play.
Another item to consider on these two is Andrew had been working at offensive tackle since he arrived to Notre Dame. Coach Quinn thought so highly of him that he started to groom him at center in the spring and summer this year thinking Patterson would play somewhere on the left side of the line. This philosophy goes back to getting the best five on the field together just like when they moved Patterson from left tackle to center in 2019. We know with Joe he is the 4th starting left tackle this year, which is just amazing to think about how far he has come in such a short time in South Bend.
Time to head back to grading the rest of this USC game and look forward to this left side duo finishing out the season strong together.
The differences between these two are Kristofic wants to maul you every chance he gets and he plays like a bully. Alt uses his footwork fundamentals along with his length to his advantage especially when the defensive ends want to speed rush him. Alt does have a mean streak in him which pops out on film when he is down blocking into the B gap where he has collected a handful of pancake blocks this season. I called this combination the other day thunder(Kristofic) and lightning(Alt) and it holds up with their two styles of play.
Another item to consider on these two is Andrew had been working at offensive tackle since he arrived to Notre Dame. Coach Quinn thought so highly of him that he started to groom him at center in the spring and summer this year thinking Patterson would play somewhere on the left side of the line. This philosophy goes back to getting the best five on the field together just like when they moved Patterson from left tackle to center in 2019. We know with Joe he is the 4th starting left tackle this year, which is just amazing to think about how far he has come in such a short time in South Bend.
Time to head back to grading the rest of this USC game and look forward to this left side duo finishing out the season strong together.
