Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MAY 2024 9 UNDER THE DOME got less than five months to get it right before Notre Dame opens the 2024 sea- son against his old head coach, Mike Elko, against the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station. ANOTHER AILMENT One of Notre Dame's most important players from the other side of the ball has the same timeline to heal up and be ready. Junior cornerback Benjamin Mor- rison had shoulder surgery March 25. The university statement did not re- veal specifics on the type of procedure, but messing with the shoulder joint in any way typically takes between three to six months to get back to full range of motion and activity. Morrison is on the short list of Notre Dame players who are unaffected by miss- ing reps in practice. That's a list Leonard is not even on; he needs all the exposure he can get working with new wide receivers within a new offensive system run by a new offensive coordinator. Everything is new to him, and the only way to make operating in this offense at this place with this personnel second nature is to rep it out over and over and over again. Leonard can't do that. Mental notes are one thing. Physical experience and the memories that accompany it is another. In the case of Morrison, meanwhile, it's all about a quick rehab and recovery. He knows this defense like the back of his hand. It's the only one he's ever played in as a Notre Dame student-athlete. De- fensive coordinator Al Golden is going into his third year in South Bend, and so is Morrison. When Morrison is good to go, it'll be like he never left. The program stated it expects him to return sometime in 2024, but nobody is quite sure when that'll be. Not even Morrison. Every day in rehab is a new adventure that sets the course of the timeline to full health. In the first practice open to the media after Morrison's condition went main- stream, junior Jaden Mickey and gradu- ate student Clarence Lewis served as starters at the outside cornerback posi- tions. Morrison wrestled a starting nod away from Lewis in 2022 and has never relinquished it. Two days after that prac- tice, Lewis entered the transfer portal. That makes it much more likely Notre Dame will give sophomore Christian Gray a shot. He'd been battling with Mickey to take over for departed starter Cam Hart before Morrison went down. Those two seem to be ahead of anyone else in the room on the outside. Senior Chance Tucker repped with Gray on the second-team Notre Dame defense in the first practice without Morrison, but he's only played 51 snaps in three seasons in South Bend. Gray played 42 in a single game last fall against Pitt. He had an acrobatic sideline inter- ception in that one. He is the future. Notre Dame could be in worse hands at cornerback in the face of an injury to its best player at the position. Gray is an up-and-coming star, and Mickey has shown flashes himself. Lewis has played more ball at this level than anyone, even Morrison. Notre Dame could be in more detri- mental shape at the quarterback posi- tion without Leonard, too. Junior Steve Angeli has really only thrown one head- scratching pass in his college career — the interception at Stanford last No- vember. The rest of them, albeit mostly late in fourth quarters when games were already decided, looked good enough to put stock in. You can't totally discount 15-of-19 passing for 232 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions in his first career start in the Sun Bowl, either. T h e n t h e re 's so p h o m o re Ke n ny Minchey and freshman CJ Carr, who were both higher-rated recruits than Angeli. The experience factor is cer- tainly in Angeli's favor, but the overall talent level probably is not. And that's fine, for both parties — Angeli and Notre Dame. The former is getting pushed to be his absolute best because he has to be. If he isn't, he'll get his job snatched by a younger member of the Irish QB cohort. If Angeli is playing well but not well enough to stay toward the top of the depth chart, that means one of Notre Dame's young recruits is doing exactly what the vision for him was — transforming himself into a difference-making signal- caller. If you weren't aware, the Irish could use one of those. A home-grown one would make it even more satisfying. These could all be moot points. Leon- ard and Morrison could be back to 100 percent by Aug. 31, allowing the Irish to go marching into the Lone Star State at full health. But if you know anything about college football, contingency plans are a must. Freeman is surely thinking about what needs to happen if those two are not available at Texas A&M, even though he's surely hoping they will be ready. It's an important spring and summer of recuperation for two South Bend stars up ahead. ✦ Morrison had shoulder surgery in late March. His status for the season opener at Texas A&M is up in the air. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER