Benjamin Morrison's Success Is A Combination Of Great Talent And Great Preparation

Benjamin Morrison has been a star for Notre Dame as a true freshman, and there are plenty of reasons for his success

Notre Dame has already faced a who’s who of college quarterbacks this season. The Fighting Irish squared off against eventual Heisman Trophy runner-up CJ Stroud in the season opener at Ohio State and they closed the season against eventual Heisman winner Caleb Williams and Southern Cal.

They played (and beat) the likes of North Carolina’s Drake Maye, BYU’s Jalen Hall and DJ Uiagalelei of Clemson. How many teams in a conference face a slate of potential NFL QBs this season?

Through it all, cornerback Benjamin Morrison has stood tall in his first season in the Notre Dame secondary. The freshman has relished the opportunity to face some of the best signal callers in the game.

"It’s been awesome, because you can test where you're at,” Morrison said this weekend. "When you go against guys like that, those are the games I live for. You can see they obviously already made a name for themselves. I’m trying to make a name for myself as each game goes by.”

Morrison has been the ultimate competitor this season. Even facing those highly regarded quarterbacks, the Phoenix, Ariz. native has earned Freshman All-American honors from multiple outlets.

"It was a great feeling,” Morrison said of the All-American recognition. "Just because hard work pays off. But ultimately, that’s not what I want. I have goals for myself higher and higher. It’s a blessing, but I can’t just ride that.”

Per Pro Football Focus, Morrison had 19 receptions against him on 47 passes thrown at him for a 40.4 percent catch rate. That ranks ninth among the 229 FBS cornerbacks with at least 300 coverage snaps.

Morrison also had five interceptions this season, which is tied for 8th among all FBS players this season. All five of those interceptions came in a three-game stretch against Clemson, Navy and Boston College. Despite his knack for finding the ball, quarterbacks still threw his way.

"I feel like they attacked me even more as the year went on,” Morrison said. "This whole year was just a roller coaster. Some games that you don’t get the ball thrown at you. Some games you get the ball thrown at you a lot. It’s just been a fun experience to be out there and being able to compete and play for this school.”

Morrison joined the starting lineup in Notre Dame’s week three win over California and went on to start eight of the last 10 games of the regular season. The only games he did not start in that stretch were against UNLV and Navy. His preparation kept him sharp and expecting the ball to come his way on any given play.

"(Cornerbacks) Coach (Mike) Mickens says every rep should be a rep that you think they’re coming at you,” Morrison commented. "So everything should be 100% every single time. Even if they don’t throw at me, my technique, my preparation pre-snap has to be as if they’re coming at me every play. So that’s my mindset going into it.”

The next challenge Morrison and the Fighting Irish secondary will face is South Carolina signal caller Spencer Rattler. Like Morrison, Rattler is a Phoenix native. They know each other from working out once at “Elite U” in Scottsdale, but they don’t know each other well. Morrison still knows enough about Rattler though.

"He was huge,” Morrison said of Rattler’s reputation in high school. "He was the best quarterback in the nation, the things he did were just unreal. Throwing off his back foot like 60 yards. He’s a generational talent. Going against him, you have to understand that. So, you have to be on your Ps and Qs, because if not, then he can expose you.”

Like Williams, Rattler played at Oklahoma last season before transferring to South Carolina in the offseason. Rattler’s overall numbers, 2,780 passing yards, 66% completion percentage and 16 interceptions with 11 touchdowns are not eye-popping.

Rattler was impressive at the end of the season though, throwing eight touchdown passes with just two interceptions in the Gamecocks’ last two games, both wins, over Tennessee and Clemson.

"He’s a confident player,” Morrison noted. "You see that through how he plays. When he was struggling a little bit, it never got him down. Because you see where he’s at right now. He’s a confident player to say the least. It’s just a testament to who he is as a person that he’s willing to go through all the adversity. Where he’s at now is a testament to him never giving up.”

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