University of Notre Dame juniors Joe Alt and Xavier Watts were named to the 2023 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America First Team on Thursday, December 14, securing Unanimous All-America honors for the two Fighting Irish standouts.
The AFCA is one of the five All-America teams that are utilized to determine both Consensus and Unanimous All-America honors. Alt and Watts earned first-team honors from Walter Camp, the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), the Associated Press, The Sporting News and the AFCA to earn the designation as Unanimous All-Americans.
Alt and Watts are the 109th and 110th Consensus All-Americans in Notre Dame football history and the 35th and 36th unanimous selections. The 2023 season marks the first since 1990 that the Irish have seen two student-athletes earn unanimous honors in the same year. College Football Hall of Fame inductees Raghib Ismail, Michael Stonebreaker and Chris Zorich were all unanimous selections in 1990.
Notre Dame has seen at least one player earn Consensus All-America honors in four consecutive seasons (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in 2020, Kyle Hamilton in 2021, Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey in 2022, followed by Alt and Watts this season). That four-year run of consensus honors the best for the program since the eight-year stretch from 1987 through 1994.
Joe Alt
- FWAA All-American – First Team
- Walter Camp All-American – First Team
- Associated Press All-American – First Team
- The Sporting News – First Team
- American Football Coaches Association – First Team
Alt, who was a finalist for the 2023 Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy, served as the bedrock of Notre Dame’s offensive line from the left tackle position. The North Oaks, Minnesota, native helped the Irish offense finish the regular season ranked ninth in the FBS for scoring offense (39.1 points per game), 12th in team passing efficiency (161.49) and 16th in passing yards per completion (14.02).
3️⃣5️⃣
Unanimous.
Joe Alt finishes up his tremendous Irish career earning Unanimous All-America honors, marking the 35th time in program history an Irish player has been named an Unanimous All-American.
Congrats, @JoeAlt7#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/7Osx4O8I3a
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 14, 2023
Notre Dame’s 39.1 points per game this season is the best average for the program since 1912, and would rank second all-time in the school record book. The Irish…