Notre Dame’s fall camp has already delivered a little bit of everything: injury scares, a freshman making noise, and a pair of preseason honors that keep the Irish in the national spotlight.
The biggest individual recognition went to Ashton Craig, who was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List. The award goes to the most outstanding center in Division I college football, and this is the second straight preseason list Craig has made.
He opened the 2025 season by starting the first six games before an injury ended his year. In his Notre Dame career, he has played in 17 games and made 12 starts on the offensive line.
This year, the Rimington selection committee is partnering with PFF to help sort out the finalists.
On the practice field, there was a brief scare involving veteran safety Adon Shuler on Saturday. He came off with an ankle or lower-leg issue, and while he was limited after that, the reports out of camp suggest it’s the kind of problem he should be able to shake off quickly.
Another safety who has been getting plenty of attention is freshman Joey O’Brien. There had been some worry over the summer that he could lose valuable practice time in fall camp, or even miss time during the regular season. Instead, he’s been on the field every day so far and has shown enough talent to push for playing time as Chris Ash sorts out the secondary rotation.
Freshman running back Jonaz Walton is also making his case. He has worked his way into the coaches’ plans quickly enough that running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider made it clear he expects Walton to see the field this season: "He put himself in the thick of this.
He's gonna play. I'm just telling you, I can say it right now from what that kid has done from spring to summer to what he's doing in the fall.
He's a gifted kid. I think he's got a chance to play this game for a long time."
Notre Dame also picked up another watch-list honor with junior kicker Spencer Porath landing on the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award list, as announced by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. Porath is one of 35 players on this year’s watch list, which ties into the 35th anniversary of the award.
Porath spent the past two seasons at Purdue, where he went 15 of 17 on field goals last year for an 88.2% mark. He was perfect on extra points, converting all 24 attempts, and drilled a career-long 53-yard field goal at Washington.
Beyond South Bend, former Irish running back Jadarian Price is drawing notice at Seattle Seahawks camp. The NFL highlighted his work during the defending Super Bowl champs’ preseason buildup, and he even earned a segment on HBO’s Hard Knocks. Early August has been kind to him.
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