When producing a second-round pick is a drop from a standard, that is a testament to how lofty the standard was for Notre Dame’s left tackles. For the first time in Irish head coach Brian Kelly‘s 11 years, his stalwart left tackle was not a first-round draft pick. Instead, Liam Eichenberg merely went No. 42 overall in Friday’s second round, selected by the Miami Dolphins.
That now means that in Kelly’s 141 games, a first- or second-round pick started at left tackle in 139 of them. Only injuries and subsequent line reshuffling in 2010 kept that from being 141 of 141, no offense to Matt Romine.