Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2024 21 asset a team can have. Morrison can completely eliminate a team's No. 1 wide receiver from its game plan, which can be devastating for an offense. The results from 2023 against Ohio State superstar Marvin Harrison Jr. — 3 receptions for 32 yards — speak for themselves. Morrison is also one of the best ball- hawks in the country, and turnovers are everything. He has picked off 9 passes in his first two seasons with the Irish. Losing him would remove Notre Dame's best player and also leave the Irish with just four scholarship cornerbacks, two of whom have never seen significant playing time. 3. S XAVIER WATTS Hard to imagine Watts can win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the best defensive player in the nation and still not be the highest-rated Notre Dame defensive player on this list, but that's reality. Morrison is that important. Still, Watts deserved all of the acco- lades he got for tying for the FBS lead in interceptions with 7 last season. He's unquestionably one of the best safe- ties in the country. Notre Dame doesn't have much experience on the very back end of its defense, but Watts makes the coaching staff comfortable. The Irish know what they're getting in him — a premier ball hawk. 5. TE MITCHELL EVANS Evans could very well end up lead- ing Notre Dame in receiving yards. He nearly did that in 2023, and he played just two-thirds of the season because he tore his ACL in the eighth game. He finished with 422 receiving yards, sec- ond only to Chris Tyree's 484. Evans did lead Notre Dame in receptions, record- ing 29 in those eight games. Rico Flores Jr. finished second with 27. Notre Dame has some exciting new wide receivers to work with, but do not sleep on Evans. He's still going to be very involved in the Irish passing game. Perhaps the most involved pass catcher Notre Dame will have. 6. OT CHARLES JAGUSAH Jagusah was set to be the key to Notre Dame's offensive line, and by exten- sion the (non-quarterback) key to its of- fense. Now he's out for the season with a torn right pectoral muscle suffered early in fall camp. When asked a question about the state of the offensive tackle position after the departure of stalwart offensive tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman led with, "I feel really good about Jagusah. He's going to be solid at that left tackle position." It's a belief Freeman held since he Senior Riley Leonard displayed his high ceiling at Duke in 2022, accounting for 3,666 total yards and 33 total touchdowns. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER 4. DT HOWARD CROSS III Cross is one of the most disruptive defensive tackles in college football. Forget sacks and tackles for loss, they do not do Cross' impact justice. Among interior defensive linemen, he tied for eighth in total quarterback pressures (39) and tied for sixth in defensive stops (32). His quickness and violent hands make him a nightmare to block one-on-one, and he holds up well against double teams despite standing at 6-foot-1, 288 pounds. Losing Cross would send ripple effects throughout the Notre Dame defense. He's a multiplier. The attention offenses need to give him and his running mate, fellow graduate student defensive tackle Rylie Mills, makes things easier for the edge rushers and line- backers around them. Graduate student Howard Cross III was one of the most disruptive defensive tackles in the nation last year, tying for eighth in total quarterback pressures (39) and tying for sixth in defensive stops (32) among all interior defen- sive linemen nationally. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER