Blue & Gold’s staff disagreed plenty throughout our respective top-25 most important Notre Dame football players of 2024 rankings. But nearly everyone’s top four featured the same four names.
Coming in at No. 4 is graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III, a first-team preseason All-American by several outlets.
Why Cross is No. 4
He’s one of the most disruptive defensive tackles in college football.
Forget sacks and tackles for loss; they do not do Cross’ impact justice. Among interior defensive linemen, he tied for eighth in total quarterback pressures (39) and tied for sixth in defensive stops (32). His quickness and violent hands make him a nightmare to block one-on-one, and he holds up well against double teams despite standing at 6-foot, 288 pounds.
Losing Cross would send ripple effects throughout the Notre Dame defense. He’s a multiplier. The attention offenses need to give him and his running mate, fellow graduate student DT Rylie Mills , makes thinks easier for the edge rushers and linebackers around them.
Cross has also proven he can take over a game by himself, which he did Sept. 30 at Duke in a 13-tackle, 2-forced fumble performance. Other dominant efforts included Week 2 at NC State, Week 7 vs. USC and the Sun Bowl against Oregon State.
Football starts up front, and Cross wreaks havoc in the middle like few others. He’s irreplaceable.
What a successful season would look like for Cross
If Cross does exactly what he did last season, it would be successful and it would get him selected on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft at the latest. Best-case scenario, he has a realistic chance to become the first Irish defensive lineman drafted in the first round since Jerry Tillery in 2019.
One would think Cross is also a candidate to be named captain. Even if he’s not, he’s still an important leader on a defense stacked with returning veterans.
Five voters — Tyler Horka , Kyle Kelly , Todd D. Burlage , Steve Downey and Jack Soble — were asked to rank their top-25 most important Fighting Irish ahead of the upcoming football season. Players were given 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, and so on and so forth.
This list is not necessarily ranking the best players or the top NFL prospects; it’s the most important players. Voters considered talent, impact, place on the depth chart and positional value, but a premium is placed on these two questions: 1) If you subtracted this individual from the roster, how much of a setback would it be? And 2) If this less proven player emerges and makes an impact, how much does that raise the ceiling (or lower it, if a breakout does not happen as expected)?
Individual rankings for Cross
Jack Soble: No. 3
Tyler Horka: No. 3
Steve Downey: No. 3
Todd D. Burlage: No. 4
Kyle Kelly: No. 4
BGI’s Notre Dame Top 25 so far
4. Howard Cross III (113)
5. Mitchell Evans (102)
6. Charles Jagusah (95)
7. Jack Kiser (93)
8. Jeremiyah Love (88)
9. Rylie Mills (82)
10. RJ Oben (71)
11. Kris Mitchell (64)
12. Christian Gray (49)
13. Jadarian Price (48)
14. Jaden Greathouse (47)
15. Jordan Faison (44)
16. Jaylen Sneed (42)
17. Aamil Wagner (36)
18. Ashton Craig (36)
19. Jordan Botelho (32)
20. Billy Schrauth (31)
21. Drayk Bowen (30)
22. Jordan Clark (26)
23. Rod Heard II (24)
24. Jayden Thomas (22)
25. Pat Coogan (19)
The post Top 25 most important Notre Dame football players of 2024: No. 4 appeared first on On3 .
Local South Bend, IN
Most Popular
Comments / 0