Two Notre Dame Freshman Land on True Freshman All-American Team

On3 released their pre-season True Freshman All-American team, and Notre Dame was well represented. Two members of the recruiting class of 2024 were listed: offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. Neither came as a surprise after Viliamu-Asa’s impressive spring and Knapp’s meteoric rise this summer.

Anthonie Knapp was an early enrollee for Notre Dame this spring but didn’t make many waves during spring football. That has not been the case in fall camp, however, as the true freshman has risen from the bottom of the depth chart to the top at left tackle in the wake of the injury to Charles Jagusah. While head coach Marcus Freeman did not announce an official starting lineup for the Texas A&M game over the weekend, he didn’t do anything to squash the idea of the true freshman starting in College Station after he has been reportedly taking the first team snaps at LT since last week.

Here is what On3 had to say about Knapp in their write-up:

“Anthonie 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.”

They aren’t wrong that they were an outlier in the rankings for Knapp. Most services had him as a low 3-star and ranked in the 60s just at interior OL. On3 had him in their top 100 overall. Jamie Uyeyama over at Irish Sports Daily was also a lot higher on Knapp than the other major services (ESPN, 247, Rivals) and had him as a 4-star as well.

Currently, there is a real chance that Knapp will be Notre Dame’s starting LT on August 31 in College Station against the stout Texas A&M defense.

Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, on the other hand, has been trending since the day he stepped foot on Notre Dame’s campus. It was evident very early on that KVA would be in the mix for serious playing time as a true freshman this season. Whether he starts or not remains to be seen, but at a minimum, he is going to play a lot as Notre Dame is set to use a 5-man rotation at linebacker along with captain Jack Kiser, sophomores Jaiden Ausberry and Drayk Bowen, and junior Jaylen Sneed.

“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.”

Whether he starts this year or not, it seems pretty obvious that he is headed towards a multi-year starting career for Notre Dame, which would put the Irish linebacking corps in a very good place, given the relative youth of the group.

Freshman corner Leonard Moore has received some high praise internally at Notre Dame but didn’t make the list for On3. That also shouldn’t be a surprise since he was a more under-the-radar prospect that has arrived ready to play a little sooner than expected. Depending on how the depth chart at corner and nickel works out, Moore could find himself on some post-season lists.