ESPN has released its 2024 Preseason All-America teams that feature two University of Notre Dame football student-athletes. Junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison was earned first-team honors, while senior safety Xavier Watts earned selection to the second team.
Watts was a first-team ESPN All-American in 2023.
Benjamin Morrison
Also a 2024 Sporting News Preseason First-Team All-American and selected to the preseason watch list for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award and the Bednarik Award, Morrison led the Irish with 10 pass breakups in 2023, recording 31 tackles (25 solo). Morrison also intercepted three passes on the season. He earned Freshman All-America honors in 2022 as one of the late-season breakout stars of college football, picking off two interceptions and returning one 96 yards for a touchdown in Notre Dame’s 35-14 romp over No. 5 Clemson.
In 2022, he claimed a share of the Notre Dame single-game record with three interceptions in a shutout win over Boston College, including two interceptions in the first quarter. Morrison appeared in all 13 games in 2022, starting nine and finishing the year with 33 tackles, 22 solo stops and four pass break ups.
Xavier Watts
A 2023 Unanimous All-American and Nagurski Trophy winner, and a 2024 Sporting News Preseason All-American, Watts enters 2024 as one of the preeminent defensive backs in college football. He has already been named to watch lists for the Bednarik Award, the Nagurski Trophy, the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award. In 2023, he tied for the national lead with seven interceptions, averaging an interception every other game.
Watts played and started in all 13 games during the season, finishing with 52 tackles, 30 solo, three tackles for loss and 0.5 sack, adding four pass breakups. He forced a fumble and recovered a fumble, returning it for a touchdown. Watts’ seven interceptions led to 33 total Notre Dame points on the subsequent drives.
Off his consecutive two-interception games vs. Pitt and USC, Watts was the first Notre Dame defender to pick off two passes in back-to-back games since at least 1996. He was one of three FBS players to achieve two multi-INT games in 2023, and the only to do so in consecutive games. He earned Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week honors for both of those performances in 2023.