If there was one thing made very clear leaving spring practice it was the state of the offensive line. After three years of restocking the depth chart, the Irish should be very good up front.
As mock draft prognosticators everywhere have pointed out all weekend, Brian Kelly did very well for himself by talking Ronnie Stanley into returning for his senior season. While we first reported that Stanley received only a second-round evaluation from the NFL’s advisory board, Stanley—at least 365 days before next season’s draft—is finding himself in the conversation for the No. 1 pick.
Setting that silliness aside (not Stanley’s draft ceiling, but rather the fact that we’re even having that conversation now), Stanley’s return turns a position of strength into a unit that could very well be dominant.