Three Notre Dame football players earn Phil Steele preseason All-America status
Joe Alt and Benjamin Morrison are going to show up on just about every preseason All-America list. That duo had somewhat of a surprise accomplice on Phil Steele‘s rundown.
Alt was a first-team choice, and Morrison made the second team. Long snapper Michael Vinson, once a walk-on, was also placed on Phil Steele’s second team. That trio of players was joined by a plethora of Notre Dame players on Steele’s preseason All-Independent First Team. No surprise there; the only independents in college football in 2023 are Notre Dame, Army, BYU, Liberty, New Mexico State, UConn and UMass.
Here is the full list of Steele’s Irish players who made the preseason All-Independent First Team.
- QB Sam Hartman
- RB Audric Estimé
- WR Chris Tyree
- C Zeke Correll
- OT Joe Alt
- OT Blake Fisher
- DE Jordan Botelho
- DT Rylie Mills
- LB JD Bertrand
- CB Benjamin Morrison
- LS Michael Vinson
And here are the Phil Steele preseason All-Independent Second Team honorees.
- WR Jayden Thomas
- TE Mitchell Evans
- DT Howard Cross III
- LB Jack Kiser
- LB Marist Liufau
- CB Cam Hart
- K Spencer Shrader
Here is a rundown of which players have received preseason All-America status in addition to Steele’s list.
Alt: First Team per Athlon Sports, Lindy’s Sports and Walter Camp Football
Morrison: Second Team per Lindy’s Sports and Walter Camp Football, Third Team per Athlon Sports
Fisher: Fourth Team per Athlon Sports
After the departure of tight end Michael Mayer to the NFL, Alt is perhaps unquestionably Notre Dame’s best overall player. He’s viewed as the best offensive tackle in the game by many, including Pro Football Focus. Here is a chart demonstrating how three prominent outlets view some of the aforementioned players as NFL Draft prospects at their respective positions.
| Player | Walter Football | Sports Illustrated | Lindy’s Sports |
| Alt | No. 2 tackle | No. 6 tackle | No. 3 tackle |
| Fisher | — | No. 5 tackle | No. 4 tackle |
| Cross III | No. 9 tackle | — | — |
| Kiser | No. 5 linebacker | No. 14 linebacker | — |
| Hartman | — | No. 18 quarterback | — |
The Irish have only a couple great players and a lot of really good ones. Therefore, for the third year in a row, Notre Dame does not have a healthy heaping of pure pro prospects. The Irish only had two players picked in each of the last two drafts after only having that few selected once in the previous six years.
Alt and Fisher are surefire selections if they choose to skip their senior seasons. Beyond that, Notre Dame might not have another lock to hear his name called next April.
