A year ago, the greatest and most obvious roster worry for Notre Dame was its defensive line. Irish head coach Brian Kelly and, arguably more notably, eventual consensus first-team All-American left tackle Mike McGlinchey both spoke highly of the unproven defensive line, but the fact that it returned literally zero sacks from 2016 resonated louder.
Kelly and McGlinchey were proven to be much more right than wrong, but one could argue outperforming low expectations does not inherently mean Notre Dame’s defensive line played well, or as well as the program needs it to. If that is ever going to change, it is in 2018.