Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison has been a productive member of the Fighting Irish defense since the moment he stepped foot on campus. He has the makings of a ball-hawking zone corner who should help an NFL defense early on in his career.
Benjamin Morrison’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 190 pounds
- Position: CB
- School: Notre Dame
- Current Year: Junior
Morrison’s Scouting Report
Morrison is from Phoenix and he played his high school football at Brophy College Preparatory. Benjamin was a four-star recruit and a top-five player in the state of Arizona, according to 247Sports. Morrison had offers from colleges across the country but chose Notre Dame to play for head coach Marcus Freeman.
The six-foot corner was an immediate impact player for the Fighting Irish and was a starter at outside corner as a true freshman, where he earned Freshman All-American honors. He continued his stellar play as a sophomore, being named a semi-finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award.
As a junior, he was considered one of the top corners in college football following his standout 2023 season. His campaign, though, was unfortunately cut short due to a hip injury that required surgery midseason.
Morrison opted to declare for the NFL Draft rather than return for a final season at Notre Dame. He looks to become the next Fighting Irish defensive back to be drafted as an early-round pick come April.
Strengths
- Good size and length for the position and can match up physically outside in the NFL.
- Outstanding hands and ball skills to turn batted passes into big-play turnovers.
- Very good ball production while at Notre Dame (nine interceptions).
- Really good awareness and instincts in zone coverage.
- Competitive player who embraces the challenge of facing the opposing team’s No. 1 option.
- Good recovery speed to catch up down the field if he is initially beaten.
Weaknesses
- Not an explosive athlete and can give separation at the breakpoint and underneath as he struggles to get out of the break at times due to some lower body tightness.
- Not an overly physical player and can get outmuscled at the line of scrimmage and at the catch point.
- A willing player in run support, but he misses a lot of tackles and takes poor angles.
- A gambler who likes to take risks for the turnover which occasionally leads to him giving up big plays.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Morrison has been one of the stars of college football since his freshman season, where he quickly asserted himself as a ball-hawking cover man who wasn’t afraid of the challenge. He continued to have a stellar career and entered the NFL Draft as one of the class’s top corners, even after missing most of his junior season with a hip injury.
Standing at 6’0″ and weighing in at 190 pounds, the Arizona native possesses very good size and overall length to hold his own as a boundary corner in the NFL. He is a smooth and fluid mover who has good overall speed but is not an overly sudden athlete. He primarily aligned outside for the Fighting Irish and was often tasked with shadowing the opposing team’s No. 1 option — a challenge he never backed down from.
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Morrison is an excellent zone-coverage defender, displaying outstanding instincts, awareness, and ball skills. He is smooth and fluid in his backpedal, and he is rarely panicked.
He understands how to get proper depth and is outstanding at positioning himself between the receiver while also maintaining eye contact with the quarterback to read and react to the football. The Fighting Irish star has exceptional hands and ball skills and can locate and highpoint the football even while he is in phase down the field, a trait many corners lack.
In man coverage, Morrison excels at being patient off the line and playing bump and run. He can stay in phase and connected throughout the route. He has good route recognition so he can feel when the break point might come and get a jump on the route.
He is a bit leggy in transitions and speedy receivers can separate from him both underneath and at the break point on in-routes and comebacks. Morrison is at his best playing and defending the third level of the field where his linear speed and ball skills can shine.
A willing run defender, the Notre Dame product shows the competitiveness and physicality to come up and fill the outside run fit. He is not a great tackler and has missed a high amount of tackles throughout his career. He struggles to disengage blockers on the outside and will be taken out of the play. While I wish he was a more consistent player in this phase, he is far from a liability, and the effort and competitive toughness is there.
Overall, Morrison is a high-IQ player with good physical tools and excellent ball skills. Those traits alone will allow him to excel playing outside corner in a zone-heavy scheme where he can read and react.
He lacks some of the high-end explosiveness and lateral quickness teams may want out of a No. 1 corner, but he has a high floor and should be able to come in and compete for a starting position early on in his career. Look for Morrison to hear his name called early in Round 2.