The breakdown of top Notre Dame players heading into the 2024 college football season continues with a potential defensive breakout

Don’t blink Notre Dame fans! We are just a week away from fall camp for the Irish officially beginning. That means we are just five weeks away from the season kicking off when the team travels to Kyle Field to take on the Texas A&M Aggies.

As camp gets ready to kick off, there’s no better time than to highlight the best Notre Dame players going into the 2024 college football season. Obviously, the resume is going to be a part of this conversation. What a player has done, and accomplished during the course of their college career absolutely matters. For a preseason list, projecting forward is also important.

So far in this series, we have unveiled the No. 20 player, all the way down to No. 11. To begin the top ten, we are going to project forward a bit. We saw the flashes of what cornerback Christian Gray can accomplish in 2023 as a key rotation player. Heading into 2024, there is the belief that Gray could be one of the breakout stars on the team.

The flashes as a freshman last season were certainly there for Gray. Just pop on the game against Pittsburgh and check out his one handed interception.

On that play, you saw the combination of length, body control and ball skills from Gray. While that was his biggest highlight from 2023, the St. Louis native got more and more comfortable in his role throughout the season. In 12 games he played last fall, Gray collected 11 total tackles, that interception and three more pass breakups. Those numbers should obviously blossom this fall.

A huge get for the Irish in the 2023 recruiting class, Notre Dame beat out the likes of Ohio State, LSU, and USC for Gray’s services. After being a rotational piece as a freshman, he is now poised to potentially start in 2024.

Benjamin Morrison returns to start in the boundary, but Cam Hart left for the NFL and Los Angeles Chargers this offseason. That leaves his field cornerback spot vacated, now expecting Gray and Jaden Mickey to help fill that void. There’s a chance that not only does that duo fill the void effectively, but flourishes in doing so.

It’s widely expected that Morrison leaves after the 2024 season, projected to be one of the top defensive players drafted in the 2025 NFL Draft. This season could serve as a transitional moment for Gray, potentially taking the mantle as the top defensive back on the team heading into his junior campaign. There is some projection there but if his recruiting background, and early flashes are any indication, Gray has the talent to be the next great cornerback to wear the blue and gold.