One of the unsung heroes of Notre Dame football’s defense is tackle [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag].
While he did have a monster season in 2023, most don’t often credit a defensive tackle for their play. That’s not the case with the All-American as Cross was named the [autotag]Outland Trophy[/autotag] National Player of the Week after his play against Louisville.
Cross has picked up where he left off last year, as they pointed out that he had a 88.2 grade by Pro Football Focus against the Cardinals. He garnered 5 quarterback pressures to go along with “four ‘wins’against Louisville offensive lineman,” according to Outland’s release.
Not only that, Cross dominated against the run game, getting 18 pass rush ‘wins’ according to PFF’s metrics. That is the kind of performance that we are getting used to from the senior. He’s never going to fill up a box score, but his impact is felt way beyond that.
Congrats Howard on the national recognition.
5️⃣6️⃣
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯
Howard Cross III has been named the Outland Trophy National Player of the Week #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/yYgAotHMW2
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 1, 2024
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