Notre Dame center Ashton Craig named to AP All-Bowl team
If you asked sophomore center Ashton Craig before the season if he thought he would even play in Notre Dame’s bowl game, he would have been unsure at best. But Craig started and produced one of the best performances of any college football player during Bowl Season.
Craig was named to the Associated Press All-Bowl team, the AP announced Friday.
“In just his third career start, this center helped No. 15 Notre Dame (No. 16 CFP) gain 468 total yards in a 40-8 victory over No. 21 Oregon State (No. 19) despite playing without its usual starting quarterback, leading rusher or starting tackles due to opt-outs,” the AP said.
Craig only allowed 1 pressure in 24 pass-protection opportunities against Oregon State, working with sophomore quarterback Steve Angeli to set the protection scheme. Angeli was sacked twice, with one sack credited to freshman offensive tackle Charles Jagusah and the other credited to sophomore guard Billy Schrauth, but he was only pressured one other time all game.
Not including sacks and scrambles, Notre Dame ran the ball 43 times and totaled 255 rushing yards, good for 5.9 yards per carry. Craig helped lead the way as a blocker.
Additionally, Craig recovered an Angeli fumble deep in Irish territory after Angeli tried to hurdle a defender near the first-down marker.
Craig started the Sun Bowl in place of graduate center Zeke Correll, who transferred to North Carolina State after missing the final two games of the regular season with a concussion that he suffered Nov. 4 against Clemson. Graduate interior offensive lineman Andrew Kristofic replaced Correll for 6 snaps before leaving the game with an ankle injury of his own, which is when Craig stepped in.
The sophomore from Lawrenceburg (Ind.) High played well enough to earn the start in Notre Dame’s next game, even with Kristofic healthy. He continued to put on good tape in games against Wake Forest and Stanford, and his performance in the Sun Bowl likely sealed the deal: Craig will enter spring camp in 2024 as the projected starting center for the Fighting Irish.
The ascension to No. 1 center completes a sizable two-year rise for Craig, who entered Notre Dame as the No. 509 player and No. 39 interior offensive lineman in the 2022 On3 Industry Ranking. He was the 19th-ranked commit in the 2022 class for the Irish, but he’s one of just 5 players in the group (linebacker Jaylen Sneed, cornerbacks Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison and punter Bryce McFerson) who are in line to start in 2024.
