SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Before every snap in practice, every snap in games, every snap in walk-throughs, the same thing happens. Quenton Nelson comes to the line of scrimmage, gathers himself for an instant before getting into a stance and extends his left fist. Two feet away, Mike McGlinchey extends his right fist.

The fists collide, and the two Notre Dame offensive linemen become one. They coalesce into a single, surging mass of power – a combined 650 pounds and more than 13 feet of synchronized, solar-eclipsing blocking prowess. They are the best part of the best line in college football, paving the way for a running game that leads the nation at 7.04 yards per carry. Running back Josh Adams deserves credit for making himself a prominent Heisman Trophy candidate, but so do the guys opening the holes – especially on the left side of the Notre Dame line.

The 6-foot-5, 335-pound Nelson is without peer at guard, and almost assuredly will be the first player taken in the 2018 NFL draft at that position. It’s been 41 years since a Notre Dame player won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best lineman – the program’s longest dry spell of all the major awards – and Nelson may well end that drought. He is astute and athletic, but mostly he is powerful and nasty – a mauler who loves exerting his will upon an opponent.

“My favorite player in college football,” said ESPN analyst Cole Cubelic, a former offensive lineman at Auburn whose blocking clips have become appointment viewing on Twitter. “[He] has a real nasty demeanor. He also enjoys the game. You see him shoving other linemen 10-20 yards downfield on a big play. He loves it. The physicality comes naturally to him.”

The 6-8¼, 315-pound McGlinchey is the rock upon which Brian Kelly rebuilt what was a floundering Fighting Irish program. He is a two-year team captain with a penchant for doing and saying the right thing, a leader and a winner – and he happens to be a hellacious lineman and potential high draft pick in his own right.

“Best left side in college football,” Cubelic said. “Best tackle-guard combo as well. Fun to watch. They pack a mean punch.”

They pack a mean punch – and yet they have ritually begun every play together for three years with something far more gentle than that. They start with an almost tender touching of the fists.

Theirs is a brotherhood built upon fist bumps.

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Ask McGlinchey how many times he’s repeated that small gesture of solidarity, reaching out to receive Nelson’s fist bump, and he estimates 10,000. Nelson starts doing some actual math in his head – 100 snaps a practice, 80 snaps a game, year after year after year – and realizes that it’s an impossible task.

The number doesn’t matter. The unity behind it does.

“Anytime you do something together as often as they’ve done it, you start to be like brothers,” Notre Dame offensive line coach Harry Hiestand said. “You start to know what the other guy is going to say and do, even before they do it.

“There’s no better guard than Q. He brings incredible physical toughness and attitude, and that’s a big ingredient for line play. But he’s also a leader and a problem solver. He’s going to coach the other guys.

“I think there is no better left tackle in college football than Mike. Great leader. Some people talk and you kind of wish they wouldn’t. Others talk and you think, ‘That’s awesome.’ That’s Mike.”

The football brothers have plenty of actual siblings. A fifth-year senior with a bachelor’s degree already earned, McGlinchey is the oldest of six and has the dutiful and responsible air of an oldest child. If anyone on this surprising 8-1 Notre Dame squad can be considered the team spokesman, it would be him. The Philadelphia native is front and center on the cover of the 2017 Irish media guide.

Directly to McGlinchey’s right on the media guide cover – always to his right, it seems – is Nelson. The redshirt junior from Red Bank, New Jersey, is a quieter guy. He’s also the slightly pampered youngest of four.

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