Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2025 41 Dame, though, with a running back stable so thin that Mike Denbrock — in an earlier tour of duty at Notre Dame as its offensive coordinator — moved safety turned wide receiver CJ Prosise to running back. The move turned out to be one of the most successful position switches of the Brian Kelly era, but the Irish needed more. Fellow freshman Dexter Williams, a four-star prospect who'd eventually bloom late in his Irish career, was viewed as the more college-ready prospect. But it was Adams who became Pro- sise's tag-team partner in 2015. And he broke the Notre Dame record for fresh- man rushing yards in a season (835) and a single game (168), while playing in all 13 games that season and starting three. Thirty-two of Adams' 117 carries that season went for either a first down or a touchdown. His four 100-yard games tied the school freshman record and his 98-yard run tied an NCAA freshman record. NO. 2 BENJAMIN MORRISON, CB (2022) It's almost a coin flip here between Nos. 1 and 2, with Mickens coaching both of them. The former Cincinnati assistant coach also tutored No. 6 on this list, Clarence Lewis, in Mickens' first season with the Irish. Heading into the 2022 season, fellow freshman Jaden Mickey was perceived as the stronger prospect at cornerback between him and Morrison, had the longer runway as an early enrollee and shined during that spring audition. The Irish needed both of them to be good in 2022, and eventually they both were — but just past midseason Mor- rison started touching greatness. He led the team and was seventh na- tionally with 6 interceptions, playing in all 13 games of Marcus Freeman's first season as head coach and starting in nine of those. The 6 picks were also the most by an Irish player since linebacker Manti Te'o amassed that many in 2012 in his Heisman runner-up season. NO. 1 LEONARD MOORE, CB (2024) Morrison's own story is all over Moore's, a Rivals250 recruit who wasn't viewed as an early impact player from the outside looking in. Inside looking out, Morrison declared in August that he believed Moore would have the better career at Notre Dame and constantly helped coach him up to make his declaration valid. And in October, the eventual second- round NFL Draft pick as an early entry, suffered a season-ending hip injury. By that point in the season, Mickey has al- ready committed to redshirting in prepa- ration to transfer and had played the four- game maximum to keep that redshirt. So, into the starting lineup Moore went for the final 10 games, including the four-game College Football Playoff run. Like Morrison, Moore was named a Freshman All-American, but Moore was also the 2024 Football Writers Associa- tion of America's Freshman Defensive Player of the Year. Opponents learned not to challenge him much, but Moore still ended up with 2 interceptions and 11 passes broken up. He also had 2 forced fumbles, and Pro Football Focus ranked him as one of the nation's best run-defending corner- backs. He backed that up with 48 tack- les, including 2 for losses. ✦ Cornerback Leonard Moore was tabbed as a Freshman All-American and the Football Writers Association of America's Freshman Defensive Player of the Year last year, after recording 48 tackles, 2 interceptions and 11 passes broken up during Notre Dame's march to the national championship game. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER