Oct. 16—SOUTH BEND — Overshadowing a stout overall performance by Notre Dame in its 49-7 win over Stanford last Saturday, Marcus Freeman’s weekly press conference soured quickly Monday afternoon.
The Fighting Irish head coach announced that star cornerback Benjamin Morrison would be out for the season and require hip surgery after the win over the Cardinals.
Morrison, a projected first-round NFL draft pick, was in the middle of his junior year in South Bend and had made 20 total tackles, deflecting four passes as well this season. He amassed nine interceptions and 23 pass deflections through his first two seasons.
“Obviously, it’s a blow to our team,” Freeman said about Morrison, who underwent shoulder surgery during the offseason but was recovered by the start of training camp. “You lose a captain, a great football player. You feel terrible for the kid, because he gives football, he gives preparation, everything he has. It’s just tough. But he’s a tough kid. He’s a tough individual. He’s been through this before. He’ll have surgery and he’ll get back to work to be the becoming the best version of Benjamin.”
Morrison was a team captain this season and on several preseason All-American teams as one of the nation’s top corners. A likely top-20 NFL pick, it might be the final page of the corner’s career in South Bend.
Freshman Leonard Moore is in line to take over for Morrison. The 6-foot-2 Moore has played in all six Irish contests this season, making 13 total tackles and forcing one fumble.
“Those two guys will have to help us if we need them,” Freeman said about other possible replacements for Morrison including freshman Karson Hobbs and senior Jordan Clark. “Karson was in the same position two weeks ago when Christian [Gray] was out. Jordan Clark can help us at corner as he showed in the Louisville game, too. We’re obviously thin with some injuries, but I’m very confident in the room.”
Notre Dame has now suffered yet another brutal season-ending blow to its defense. The unit has been reliable while the Irish offense works around its quirks, but without starters in Jordan Botelho, Boubacar Traore and now Morrison, the losses will eventually become too much to handle.
The Irish are currently 11th in total defense and fifth in defensive pass efficiency. They’ve also been sharp in third and fourth downs. Opponents have been successful under 30% of the time on third down (10th in the country) and are just 3-of-15 against Notre Dame in fourth downs (4th).
Without Morrison, that obviously take a hit.
Thankfully, the return of defensive end Joshua Burnham and tackle Gabriel Rubio, who played in his first game this season against Stanford, albeit, in a 21-snap limited fashion, has performed better as of late.
“It’s great to have Josh Burnham back,” Freeman said of Burnham who has nine total tackles and two tackles for loss in four games this season. “When I went back and watched the film, at first, he has the interception or fumble, whatever they called it, but he played really well. He’s different when he’s in there.”
“Gabriel Rubio to have him — a guy that’s been out all fall camp, all season. Last week was his first true week of practice, and he performed really well for us.”
Tackles Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills also add to the production Notre Dame’s defense will need to lean on more with the loss in the secondary.
Cross leads the team with four sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss in all six games this season. Mills has the team-high in tackles (18).
“It’s huge,” Freeman said. “Those two played dominant. They’ve played well all year, but I think what you saw in this game is a couple of sacks. What they’ve got to understand is that sacks don’t always reflect how you play. There can be a narrative out there that you’re not playing well, because you don’t have the stats to back it up. That’s not always the case. But Saturday, what the case was — they played really well and they had the stats to back it up.”
SUNDAY STADIUMS
Notre Dame hasn’t been on the road in four weeks, but that’s to change this Saturday when the Irish play a “neutral-site” game against Georgia Tech (5-2) at Mercedez-Benz Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons. The Yellow Jackets have won their last two games.
The Irish will play in NFL stadiums in its next two games, facing No. 25 Navy at MetLife Stadium in two weeks.
“I think this week is a little bit different being indoors,” Freeman said. “You’ve got to continue to remind them that there are NFL numbers on the field. I think those are things that are important. Crowd noise probably can be a factor in an indoor stadium, and so those are things that you have to remind them as you go into this game before the game.”
Notre Dame has four of its remaining six games taking place away from home. In addition to the neutral location games against Georgia Tech and Navy, the Irish will also play No. 23 Army at Yankee Stadium and will close the season with its lone remaining true-road game at USC.
In addition to Morrison’s season-ending injury, Freeman said that receiver Jordan Faison will be available for Saturday’s game, but still isn’t 100%. Faison was available last week against Stanford but did not play out of an abundance of caution. Faison has played in just three games this season, totaling four receptions for 29 yards.
Joining him on the injury report is offensive guard Billy Schrauth, who is questionable to play against the Yellow Jackets.
Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.
