Notre Dame captain suffers season-ending injury before potential 1st-round selection

In the middle of what is shaping up to be a great season, Notre Dame football has lost one of its best players to injury. Star cornerback Benjamin Morrison, a potential first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, will miss the rest of the season due to a hip injury, per Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone.

Morrison is one of the top cornerbacks in college football and is a team captain for the Fighting Irish this season. He was a preseason All-American in 2024 after accumulating nine interceptions over his first two seasons as a starter. Morrison didn’t add any picks to his tally this season, but he does have four pass breakups to bring his career total to 18.

The Notre Dame defense will certainly miss Morrison’s ability to shut down one half of they field, which has gone a long way to help it become one of the top units in college football so far this season. Through six games, the Fighting Irish rank eighth in college football in points allowed per game (11.7) and sixth in passing yards allowed per game (148.7). Losing Morrison will make it much easier to throw on that group.

The group of cornerbacks expected to be taken high in the 2025 NFL Draft has also taken a beating in recent weeks, with Morrison’s injury as the latest example. Earlier this season, East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel suffered a torn ACL that ended his season. Like Morrison, Revel was another player that has a chance to be a first round pick in the upcoming draft.

Arguably the best cornerback in the 2025 Draft, Colorado’s Travis Hunter, also went down with an injury during the Buffs’ loss to Kansas State on Saturday night. He didn’t return to the game, and his status is unclear moving forward. If he is forced to miss time, that will make three of college football’s top cornerbacks who are all out due to injury.