2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison

All my scouting notes on the strengths, concerns, usage/role, skill set summary, NFL comparison and grade/projection for Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison

Notre Dame CB Benjamin Morrison

Height: 6-0
Weight: 193
Arm Length: 30 1/2
Hand Size: 9 1/4
Birthdate: 3/11/04 (will be 21 during rookie season)
Games Watched: Purdue, Stanford, Texas A&M, Ohio State 2023, Clemson 2023, USC 2023

Scouting Notes

Three straight seasons allowing less than a 50 percent completion rate on throws that targeted him. That’s a jaw-dropper. 129 career targets at Notre Dame and only allowed 59 completions (45.7 percent). In 31 games he totaled nine interceptions and 12 pass breakups. Played only six games in 2024, but looked much improved technically compared to 2023, especially with his hands. Was much grabbier at the top of routes in 2023, played more with his feet in 2024. I watched six games and never saw him get beat deep despite playing a ton in press man. Not once, even on a play he wasn’t targeted.

Morrison is ultra-physical and won’t be punked if he can help it. Now, some receivers are bigger and stronger, so he’ll get into battles. But his 2024 tape solidified the type of player he is, especially the Stanford and Texas A&M tapes. He wants to jam you up at the line of scrimmage, and if you try to block him he is going to have a plan for you. He push-pulled/hip-tossed receivers multiple times against Stanford, and that group of pass catchers is one of the most physical in college football. Morrison consistently pressed receivers to the sideline and crowded them at the top of their routes with appropriate physicality. He’s not the biggest or the strongest, so occasionally the strategy works against him, but the tape shows way more wins than losses.

Not many college cornerbacks have the experience in press man coverage that Morrison has, which will make him valuable in the NFL. Now, he’s not without fault despite that coveted experience. Release-savvy receivers can get him off balance at the line of scrimmage, and Morrison has good, not great, recovery quickness and fluidity. He’s sticky because he anticipates when receivers will gear down, break off the route or accelerate. Morrison wins with a combination of mental processing and solid athleticism more than jaw-dropping movement ability. He’s also excellent at getting his head around to play the ball on vertical routes, which makes him competitive at the catch point.

I think the best receivers in the NFL will give him some trouble, but it’s hard not to be optimistic about Morrison as a good starter in the league. He plays the run with tenacity, fights to get off blocks on the perimeter, has no hesitations about tackling and can probably play inside or outside in any scheme at the next level.

Notre Dame asked Morrison to play in man coverage a lot, but he looks good in zone too, notching many of his nine career interceptions with his eyes on the quarterback. He doesn’t play in the slot a ton, but Notre Dame had no hesitations about putting him there. At the end of the game against Ohio State in 2023, Morrison followed Marvin Harrison Jr. around, including to the slot for a couple goal line plays at the end of the game.

There really aren’t a lot of weaknesses in Morrison’s profile, other than not having elite athletic ability, size or strength. I think his feet can improve in press position a little bit, and he can clean up the tackling some too, although his misses mostly occur when he comes in a little too hot, but still slows down the runner for his teammates.

I don’t think Morrison has tier 1 cornerback tools in the NFL, but there is no doubt he was one of the best cornerbacks in college football for three years, and will enter the NFL with an incredible resume for a player who won’t turn 22 until well after his rookie season. If the hips are healthy, take this man early in the draft and prosper. The problem is, that could be a massive “if”.

Grade/Projection

Morrison will likely be right late teens/early 20s on my board, but could go later than that in the draft due to questions about his health and inability to work out pre-draft.