Notre Dame has third-most players recognized on ESPN’s top 100 players in college football
On Thursday, ESPN unveiled its top 100 college football players before the season, and the Notre Dame football program had five players represented on the list.
Fighting Irish cornerback Benjamin Morrison, defensive lineman Howard Cross III, safety Xavier Watts, quarterback Riley Leonard and tight end Mitchell Evans all earned nods in the top 100, which five ESPN experts comprised.
According to ESPN, the formula for ranking players was as follows: They considered players’ past contributions on the field, along with their anticipated roles for 2024, their recruiting pedigrees and their draft stocks and formulated a reasonable expectation for this coming season. Then they debated, argued and discussed to put them in order, 1 through 100.
Only Ohio State (seven) and Georgia (six) had more players recognized than Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Alabama, Miami, Michigan and Texas also had five players listed.
Here is more on where Evans, Leonard, Watts and Morrison slotted.
TE Mitchell Evans — No. 96
Evans just squeezed into the top 100 with four sports to spare. The only tight end that earned a spot on the list outside of Evans was Michigan sophomore tight end Colston Loveland at No. 26 overall.
Before Evans tore his ACL against Pittsburgh on Oct. 28, he caught 29 passes for 422 yards and 1 touchdown. ESPN called him the “heir apparent to Notre Dame’s exceptional legacy of game-changing tight ends.”
QB Riley Leonard — No. 82
ESPN chose 13 quarterbacks ahead of Leonard, including Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman, who checked in at No. 81. Georgia’s Carson Beck was the top-ranked passer at No. 7 overall.
Many NFL Draft pundits considered Leonard a draftable prospect before injuring his ankle against Notre Dame last season. As a sophomore in 2022, he threw for 2,967 yards, 20 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Last season, he had just 1,102 yards and 3 touchdowns during an injury-riddled season.
S Xavier Watts — No. 52
The reigning Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner — awarded to the nation’s top defender — ended up at No. 52 in the rankings. He was the 22nd defender and fourth safety behind Sebastian Castro (No. 19; Iowa), Caleb Downs (No. 11; Ohio State) and Malaki Starks (No. 10; Georgia).
Watts was a unanimous All-American in 2023, with the help of his nation-tying seven interceptions. He also had 52 tackles (30 solo), 3 for loss and 4 pass breakups.
DT Howard Cross III — No. 46
Reigning second-team All-America representative Howard Cross III is the No. 19 defender and No. 3 defensive tackle in college football, in addition to being the No. 46 overall player. Michigan’s Mason Graham (No. 2) and Kentucky’s Deone Walker (No. 21) were the only two D-tackles ahead of him.
His 66 tackles last season finished second among all Power 5 front-four defensive linemen. ESPN did not recognize Cross as a preseason All-American on Wednesday.
CB Benjamin Morrison — No. 12
Morrison remains in the conversation as a top 10 NFL Draft choice next spring. ESPN has him as the 11th draft-eligible player and third cornerback behind Colorado’s Travis Hunter (No. 3) and Michigan’s Will Johnson (No. 4).
After earning the nod on seven true freshman All-America teams in 2022, Morrison followed up his rookie campaign with a solid 2023 season. He had 8 pass breakups and 3 interceptions in 12 games. According to ESPN, Morrison allowed a 35% defensive completion rate, which was 24th-best among all FBS defensive backs.
