Tag: howard cross iii

Three Notre Dame players make Pro Football Focus’ college football top-50 in 2024

The Irish continue to see its players on top lists

All-American lists, preseason watch lists and now top player lists have had plenty of Notre Dame football flavor to them.

Pro Football Focus has joined in the fun, as they ranked the top-50 players in college football for the 2024 season. Three Irish stars made the list, but there is an argument for more, like there have been with others.

Cornerback [autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag] was the top Notre Dame player, checking in at No. 7. Defensive tackle [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag] was next at No. 20, while tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evan[/autotag]s came in at No. 47.

The omission of safety Xavier Watts is questionable, as he is clearly one of the best players in the country.

My guess is that he just missed the cut, but it’s still surprising to see yet another list not naming him. Either way, having three players is still impressive, which shows that Notre Dame has some star power in 2024.

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Three Notre Dame players on the Chuck Bednarik Award preseason watch list

This trio will lead the Irish defense this fall

The [autotag]Chuck Bednarik Award[/autotag] is given out annually to the top defensive player in college football, and Notre Dame defensive tackle [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag] almost made it as a finalist last year.

As for the 2024 season, the award committee believes that three Irish players are worthy enough to take home the award as the season is set to start: Cross, cornerback [autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag] and safety [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag].

All three of them recently were named onto the USA TODAY preseason All-American teams, so this inclusion should not surprise anyone. It’s the latest preseason honor for the trio of Notre Dame players, as each of one them have been named to other watch lists as well.

Cross made multiple second-team All-American lists last year, while Morrison was a Thorpe Award semifinalist. Watts is the most decorated of the three, taking home the Bronko Nagurski Trophy while being a unanimous All-American.

The top three Irish defenders will once again be in the mix for a variety of national awards.

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Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts named third-best safety in college football

Time for him to go out and prove it.

Notre Dame figures to rely on its defense once again to win football games in 2024. It’s hard to dispute that given that there’s some future NFL talent on that side of the ball. Among that talent is safety [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag], who many currently project to be taken as high as the third round in the 2025 draft.

Big Game Boomer, college football’s list aficionado on social media, has released his list of the top 50 safeties in college football entering the upcoming season. Let’s just say Watts will be the best safety on either side of the ball at least during every regular-season game for the Irish this year:

Big Game Boomer already had reserved spots on his respective position lists for [autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag], [autotag]Jack Kiser[/autotag], [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag], [autotag]Rylie Mills[/autotag] and [autotag]RJ Oben[/autotag]. Most recently, he has put transfer Jordan Clark on his nickel/slot corners list:

So yeah, this defense is gonna be good. Let’s hope the offense can support it.

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Athlon Sports Names Notre Dame’s Team MVP Ahead of 2024 Season

Who do you think is Notre Dame’s team MVP ahead of 2024?

Notre Dame enters the 2024 college football season with extremely high expectations.

The Fighting Irish are coming off a 10-3 campaign that saw them demolish Oregon State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl last December, but also saw them put out a couple of major road duds in losses to Louisville and Clemson.

If Notre Dame is going to reach their potential and not just make the College Football Playoff and make some noise when they get there, they’ll need their stars to play like stars.

Athlon Sports has their annual college football preview magazine out and broke down the Fighting Irish for 2024 and named defensive tackle [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag] their MVP ahead of the season.

Despite lacking typical stature for a nose tackle (he’s 6-1, 284 – a typical defensive tackle in about 1975), Cross makes plays all over the field.  His 66 stops were second on the team in ’23 and his 99 tackles over the 2022 and ’23 seasons ranks third among Irish players in that span.  Over the past two years he also had 12 quarterback hurries and six passes broken up. – Athlon Sports

You can debate who Notre Dame’s biggest star is ahead of 2024 as cornerback Benjamin Morrison projects as a future first round NFL draft pick.  However, with Cross playing in the middle of the defensive line and having a bigger impact on more plays than Morrison makes me agree with this call.

Notre Dame should have an improved offense in 2024 but they’ll ultimately go as far as their defense can take them and that starts up front, with Cross being a big reason they’re thought so highly of.

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Two Notre Dame players named to Lott Trophy Watch List

Watch list season has begun.

June officially is upon us, which means we’re one step closer to college football returning. That also means award watch lists are starting to come out, and plenty of Notre Dame players will be on them considering the Irish are expected to be College Football Playoff contenders. We have our first such instance now.

[autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag] and [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag] have been named to the watch list for the Lott Trophy, which is given annually the best defensive IMPACT player. It considers character as well as play, the only major college football award to do so. [autotag]Manti Te’o[/autotag] is the lone previous winner for the Irish, taking the award in 2012.

The initial list consists of 42 names, so that obviously means a lot of competition for both players. Hopefully, at least one of them somehow stand out above the rest when the winner is announced during the ceremony Dec. 8 in Newport Beach, California.

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Notre Dame football has two of the top returning defensive tackles according to PFF

The Irish are set in the middle of their defensive line

One unit that Notre Dame football shouldn’t have many worries about this coming season is at defensive tackle.

The Irish saw two major contributors at the position return, [autotag]Howard Cross III[/autotag] and [autotag]Rylie Mills[/autotag], solidifying the middle of the defensive line. Both players were named by Pro Football Focus in their top 10 returning defensive tackles for the 2024 season.

Cross III has been a consistent force for Notre Dame, having his best season in 2023 with 66 total tackles, 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Mills tackle numbers weren’t as big, with 47, but he also had 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Due to their positions, neither will ever put up massive stats, but they obviously get the job done.

With Cross III and Mills in the middle, it frees up the ends along with linebacker to make plays. Expect more of the same in the fall.

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Lions full 2024 NFL mock draft: The first set of projections

The first edition of the Lions’ 2024 mock draft projections

With four games in the books and a better idea of both needs and projected draft order, it’s time for the first edition of the Lions Wire’s 2024 mock draft.

Detroit is 3-1 and currently holds the No. 25 overall pick in the first round, based on the NFL standings after Week 4. This projection covers all the rounds. Obviously, it’s still early in the draft process, making this more about ideas and prospects than predictions. The players here are ballparked in terms of where they appear to project (as of October 5th) in the 2024 NFL draft, which will be held in Detroit in April.

The first two rounds are taken directly from my first full NFL mock draft for 2024 over at Draft Wire. This should help sort out some questions about player availability for those picks.

Notre Dame statistical leaders through three games

How is Buchner still on this list?

Finally, Notre Dame has a win to its name in 2022. It’s pretty sad that we have to say that three games into the season, but here we are. Let’s see if the second win can come against North Carolina. Here are the players most likely to make that happen (minus the quarterback):

Notre Dame statistical leaders through one game

The early leaders are in.

Notre Dame will get another chance at its first win of the season when it plays its first home game against Marshall. They should get it done this time, but will they? Either way, here are the players to watch at Notre Dame Stadium this coming weekend?

Notre Dame will miss a defensive line contributor against Stanford

The Irish will miss his contributions

For the last few weeks the Irish have been very healthy inside their two-deep. Yes, star safety Kyle Hamilton has been out, but he has not been listed, so his exclusion does not count.

Today, however, it’s a bit of a different story as the Notre Dame defensive line will be without a very solid contributor, defensive tackle Howard Cross III. Although Cross has not light up the stat sheet, his play has not gone unnoticed. He has been solid all season long and although the Irish defense might not need his play against the Cardinal today, it is unfortunate that he won’t be able to suit up.