HEADLINES

Benjamin Morrison

Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison Declares For Draft

January 23rd, 2025 at 3:47pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison is declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft, per ESPN’s Jordan Reid.

Morrison did not play in the College Football Playoff due to a season-ending hip injury suffered in October, but he dominated opposing receivers up to that point. He allowed just 12 receptions and a 58.4 passer rating on his 27 targets in 2024, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), solidifying his status as a first-round pick.

NFL teams will be excited about Morrison’s growth potential. He checks almost every box for a cornerback prospect, with a solid frame (6-foot, 190 pounds), smooth athleticism, excellent coverage skills, and willingness to defend the run. He burst onto the college football scene with a team-high six interceptions as an 18-year-old true freshman in 2022, earning All-American honors in the process.

Morrison followed that up with a superb sophomore year with three more interceptions and a semifinalist nod for the Jim Thorpe award, given to the top defensive back in Division I-FBS. He was on his way to more awards consideration in 2024 before his injury, but still put together a solid six-game performance before he went down.

Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Michigan’s Will Johnson are widely thought to be the top two cornerbacks in the 2025 class, with Morrison typically ranked third. ESPN’s Scouts Inc. ranks Morrison 13th overall in this year’s class. Hunter, obviously, offers elite upside as a two-way player, while Johnson enjoyed more team success and individual accolades at the college level compared to Morrison. All three are expected to be first-round picks in April’s draft.

 

Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison Out For Season

October 18th, 2024 at 9:08pm CST by Ely Allen

Another top cornerback prospect for the 2025 NFL Draft has found their season ending early. According to a tweet from Pro Football Focus’ college account, junior Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison will miss the remainder of the college season with a hip injury.

Morrison is an Arizona native out of Brophy College Prep in Phoenix. As a four-star recruit, Morrison was a top-four prospect in the state. He committed to the Fighting Irish over offers from in-state Arizona, then-Pac-12 powers Washington and Oregon, and Alabama, agreeing to play for then-head coach Brian Kelly but eventually sticking with defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman after Kelly left for LSU and Freeman took over head coaching duties.

Morrison was an immediate factor on defense as a true freshman. Having high school experience as a receiver and kick returner, Morrison put his hands to use, nabbing six interceptions, tied for third in the country that year. Five of those picks came in two games with three coming against Boston College and two against Clemson, including a 97-yard pick six of D.J. Uiagalelei. Those efforts earned him True Freshman All-American honors from several publications.

Morrison didn’t slow down as a sophomore. While he only recorded half of his prior year interception total, Morrison tied for 25th in the nation with 13 passes defensed. While he hadn’t recorded an interception in six games this year, Morrison was on a similar track for passes defensed with four so far this season.

Morrison’s disruptive knack for making plays on the ball certainly caught the eyes of NFL scouting personnel. After only two years in college, Morrison appeared on preseason prospect rankings all over, with many expecting him to leave after three years of school. Much like East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel, Morrison appeared high in the recent prospect rankings of ESPN’s Mel Kiper.

Revel and Morrison appeared back-to-back in Kiper’s ranking as the 20th and 21st best overall draft prospects, and the third and fourth cornerback prospects, respectively, behind only Michigan’s Will Johnson and Colorado dual-position prospect Travis Hunter. In the rankings of Kiper’s ESPN peers Jordan Reid, Matt Miller, and Field Yates, Morrison ranked just ahead of Revel, with only Kiper ranking Revel higher.

Morrison is the son of Darryl Morrison, a sixth-round safety out of Arizona who was selected by Washington in 1993. The elder Morrison started 28 games over the course of his rookie contract, recording an interception, seven fumble recoveries (one for a touchdown), and 165 total tackles, but he failed to earn a second contract in the NFL.

Benjamin will hope to follow in his father’s footsteps as an NFL draft pick, and he’ll hope to outdo his father as a Day 1 selection. His odds to do that have likely dropped with the severity of this hip injury, but with draft pundits still so high on him following the announcement that he’ll miss the remainder of the season, Morrison only needs one NFL team to agree he’s worth a first-round pick next April.