What are the Dolphins getting with second-rounder Eichenberg? Notre Dame coach weighs in

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Notre Dame was playing Florida State last October, when Fighting Irish offensive line coach Jeff Quinn looked at left tackle Liam Eichenberg and couldn’t believe his eyes. Literally.

Eichenberg’s left eye was swollen shut after an FSU player poked him. After leaving the game briefly to ice the injury, Eichenberg returned what that swollen eye, unable to re-insert his contact lens.

Quinn wasn’t surprised.

“We had to take him out because the training staff needed some time with him, but he went back in and finished the second quarter,” Quinn said. “I could tell he couldn’t see out of it. I was looking at it, saying, ‘Damn, he got whacked but didn’t flinch.’

“You talk about grit, you talk about a tough competitor. He said, ‘You’re not taking me out. I’m going back in.’

“It’s hard enough to block guys with two eyes open let alone one eye. You watch him against two of the best defensive ends, and he played as well [as he usually would] with one eye open. Most guys would have checked out. Not Liam. He’s a warrior, a tough-minded competitor. He never missed a practice, never missed a game.

“From the time I took over in 2018, we slotted him in as our starting left tackle and never looked back.”

Now Eichenberg joins the Dolphins, a team that coveted him to the point that it traded up eight spots to 42nd to grab him in last month’s draft, sending the Giants the 50th pick and a 2022 third-rounder as compensation.

Quinn addressed other attributes about Eichenberg during a phone conversation this week:

On the skills that will make Eichenberg a good NFL player: “He has good strength and speed and quickness. His reaction time is very good. His balance, footwork, hand-eye coordination are all things that jump out.

“He has good body control, good leverage, can change directions, good flexibility, can accelerate. He can get to the linebacker and latch onto those guys. He has a sense for when defensive linemen are going to spike inside.

“I needed him to be the best left tackle, and he blocked the best competition in the country and never gave up a sack in well over two seasons. He works so hard at it; he’s so mindful of his footwork, balance, where his hands are, where his eye discipline is. That requires a lot for somebody to be that dedicated and focused on.”

Quinn believes Eichenberg can transition to right tackle without a problem; the Dolphins are expected to give him a chance to win that job.

“He’s got to train his body to do it from that side,” Quinn said. “I don’t see any issue at all. That’s what he’s been working on [the past few weeks]. He knew that potentially could happen. He expects to compete for one of those top spots.”

Quinn said he has no doubt that Eichenberg “could slide in and play guard” if asked. “He can play the left side or the right side.”

Eichenberg didn’t allow a sack in his final 36 games at Notre Dame. How was Eichenberg as a run blocker?

“He can get underneath people and lift them,” Quinn said. “He’s strong, powerful, tenacious. That’s what you need to be a good run blocker. He can hold his own. When he gets guys in a good position, he’s got some great finishing blocks.”

On what kind of person and player the Dolphins are getting:

“Very conscientious. Very mature kid, comes from a great family. He went to Saint Ignatius High School [in Cleveland], and we had to pull him away from the [Ohio State] Buckeyes.

“As time moved along, he found that something he wanted to develop himself into was being more vocal. He’s very respectful. He’s a very driven individual, expects excellence from himself and certainly has delivered for us.

“His career has been quite amazing. Being in the playoffs two of his three years, voted offensive lineman of the year in the ACC, an All-American. He’s incredible.”

THIS AND THAT

Safety Jevon Holland, the Dolphins’ other second-round pick, intercepted nine passes during his final two seasons at Oregon and said there’s a reason he’s good at that.

“I played receiver in high school a lot and that’s where I developed a lot of my ball skills,” he said. “I feel like I have a good sense of how the ball trajectory is going to be in the sky, and I definitely think that added to my ball skills and ball-hawking ability.”

Linebacker Jaelan Phillips, the Dolphins’ selection at No. 18, has been studying some great NFL pass rushers.

“Growing up, I used to watch Shawne Merriman,” he said. “I watched some tape of Lawrence Taylor. Those are some older guys and then just more recently guys like the Bosa brothers, the Watt brothers, Chandler Jones are guys I really kind of model my game after.”

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