Purdue Football: Cam Craig out for Season

Jeff Brohm revealed the fate of one injured Purdue player in his Monday press conference. Brohm stated that redshirt freshman left guard Cam Craig, who suffered an injury in the Iowa game, will be out for the remainder of the season after having surgery.

This is a tough blow for Cam who fought his way up the depth chart and into the starting left guard position. He was replaced in the starting lineup by fellow redshirt freshman Spencer Holstege against Illinois and that looks to be the move going forward.

On top of the Craig injury, starting center Sam Garvin went out with a leg injury against Illinois and his status is unknown. Freshman Gus Hartwig replaced Garvin, and that looks to be the move going forward. Purdue will be incredibly young on the interior of the line.

Thus far, the offensive line has been a surprise bright spot for the Boilermakers. O’Connell has received adequate protection in the pocket and Zander Horvath has put up back to back 100 yard games. Depth on the interior of the line was a problem going into the season, and that will be tested even more with Craig out for the season and Garvin out indefinitely with what looks like a serious injury.

Purdue will need redshirt freshman Kyle Jornigan and redshirt junior Mark Stickford to step up and provide depth behind starters (LG) Holstege, (C) Hartwig, and (RG) Washington. Hostage will be pulling double duty because he’s the starting at guard and the backup center.. If anything happens to Hartwig (or he needs a break), Holstege will shift to center and either Jornigan or Stickford will fill in at left guard.

Offensive line was one spot Purdue needed to remain healthy, and that hasn’t been the case yet. The good news is that Purdue has more depth on the interior line than they have at the tackle positions. They’re better able to absorb injuries on the interior without seeing a substantial drop off in quality. That said, Purdue can’t afford any more injuries to interior lineman moving forward.