Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 MAY 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA S o much was on the Notre Dame defense to perform well last year when the Fighting Irish offense stumbled in big games. The same could be the case in 2024. Riley Leonard's continued injury his- tory is concerning. Two ankle surgeries in a span of just a few weeks is not the way anyone in South Bend wanted Leon- ard's one-year rental season to kick off. But it is what it is, and so is junior corner Benjamin Morrison's shoulder surgery. The reality of those two situations puts pressure on a Notre Dame defense still star-studded with talent to keep on keeping on. This could be another elite campaign for defensive coordinator Al Golden's group. Here are three things we know about it less than five months before it's put to the test Aug. 31 in Col- lege Station, Texas. CORNERBACK CLARITY Two things happened in March that made it very clear junior Jaden Mickey and sophomore Christian Gray are go- ing to be two of Notre Dame's most important defensive players in 2024. Junior Benjamin Morrison had shoulder surgery, putting him on a race against the clock to try to be ready for the sea- son opener at Texas A&M Aug. 31, and graduate student Clarence Lewis en- tered the transfer portal. The timing of the latter was eerily connected to that of the former. Notre Dame announced Morrison's condition on March 26. News of Lewis' exit from the team dropped March 29. Lewis took first-team reps in practice in the first session reporters saw after Morrison went down, which was March 27, but something must've happened during the next two days that signaled to the vet- eran that a fifth season with the Fighting Irish was not his best path forward. That's where Mickey and Gray enter the chat. That duo logged more defensive snaps YOUNG AND OLD Notre Dame's defense has a good mix of veterans and youth