Injuries have been a major problem for the Notre Dame offensive line the last two seasons and that continued in 2025, with the latest blow being that the Irish will now be without starting center Ashton Craig for the remainder of the season. Craig was injured in the second half of the win over NC State and head coach Marcus Freeman announced that Craig tore his ACL and is out for the season.
Craig is the second projected offensive lineman to be lost for a significant time this season. Projected starting guard Charles Jagusah was lost for potentially the entire season when he suffered a broken arm during the summer. Jagusah and Craig also had significant injuries in 2024, with Craig going down in the third game of the season with another knee injury and Jagusah was also hurt in the preseason.
Craig had played very good football for much of the 2025 season since his return from last season's injury. He was consistent with his snaps and his run blocking had been quite good most of the season. Craig was also a steady pass blocker up the middle for young quarterback CJ Carr, who will now have to learn to play with a new center.
Freeman mentioned during today's press conference that he has confidence in redshirt sophomore Joe Otting, who replaced Craig in the win against NC State. Otting played 21 snaps in the victory and his overall play was solid, although he did look like a guy who hadn't played a lot of snaps this season, which was to be expected. Otting has now played 53 snaps this season and has played 135 snaps in his career after earning 82 snaps in 2024 as a redshirt freshman. All of Otting's snaps have come at center.
Otting is projected to start against USC, which will mark the first start of his career.
Otting signed as part of the 2023 class that also had Jagusah, Sullivan Absher, Sam Pendleton and Christopher Terek. The Topeka (Kan.) Hayden standout was graded as a 4.0-star recruit on the Irish Breakdown board, and he also earned a four-star grade from Rivals and 247Sports. He was a standout basketball player in high school and is a quality athlete.
Absher has also played some center in his career and could be considered for the position, as could true freshman Cam Herron. Starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp was initially recruited to play inside, with center a possible option, but it's highly unlikely that line coach Joe Rudolph would ever move Knapp away from left tackle no matter how well Knapp would fit at the position. Even if Notre Dame wanted to consider another player at center, the odds would be that it would likely happen during the bye week after the USC matchup. That gives Otting an opportunity to perform well against the Trojans and lock down the spot for the remainder of the season.
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