In the wake of last Monday’s season-ending injury news for junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison, few Irish players, if any, felt a greater impact responsibility-wise than Leonard Moore. Just halfway through his opening season at Notre Dame, the freshman suddenly became a full-time starter. All while managing his first set of midterms, Moore had less than a week to ready himself for Saturday’s clash with Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
The situation would understandably spook a lot of players. Here you are, a freshman, having to fill the shoes of an All-American. On the 12th-ranked team in the nation. Inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a cavernous National Football League venue.
But thanks to his preparation — and his previous starting experience on Sept. 28 against Louisville — Moore found himself ready for the moment.
“I just try, even in the weeks that I wasn’t starting, to prepare like [it’s] a start, just in case [for] when the opportunity arises,” Moore said after Saturday’s 31-13 Irish win. “B-Moe had been shaken up a lot during the season, so I’ve always gotta be ready for my time when it comes.”
It certainly helped to have a player and leader like Morrison to learn from. Even while going through hip surgery and his initial stages of recovery, the junior captain took time to watch film and share insights with his teammates. He knew exactly what Moore needed to hear.
Morrison himself had stood in Moore’s cleats just two years earlier. Taking on a larger role in the second half of the 2022 season, Morrison succeeded massively, intercepting five passes in November alone. Now playing the role of mentor, he had this message for Moore.
“Don’t think about it like you’re a freshman. Just think about it like you’re going out there and playing football. Don’t give yourself any excuses — just go out there and guard your man.”
Early on in Saturday’s game, however, just playing football wasn’t quite that simple for Moore and the Irish. Georgia Tech ruled dual-threat quarterback Haynes King out just before kickoff, forcing Notre Dame to account for a different style of offense under Zach Pyron.
“We definitely prepared for Haynes King to play the entire week, but nothing changed in our gameplan or anything like that,” Moore recalled. “But we knew that with it being [Zach Pyron] it was gonna be a little bit less quarterback run game, so that’s definitely how we adjusted after the first quarter.”
Using a more passing-based attack, Georgia Tech gave Notre Dame plenty of trouble in the opening 15 minutes. Pyron’s second pass went for 20 yards to tight end Jackson Hawes, who ended up wide open on the right side because Moore had over-rotated to the middle of the field pre-snap. The sophomore quarterback would go on to complete each of his first nine heaves, leading the Yellow Jackets to a 7-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
Georgia Tech wouldn’t score again until 23 seconds remained in the game.
With the help of Moore’s seven tackles, Notre Dame’s defense clamped down, paving the way for 31 consecutive Irish points. The freshman also notched the first two pass breakups and the first tackle for loss of his career. When all was said and done, Notre Dame had won by overcoming an early deficit for the fourth consecutive game.
“It’s definitely crazy to see how we make adjustments, and obviously [in] the first 15 [minutes], they’re gonna come out with their best plays,” Moore said. “So we obviously make adjustments to that, and then we just stay focused the rest of the game and lock in.”
The consistently excellent play of Notre Dame’s safeties down the stretch helped Moore and the Irish do exactly that. Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, graduate student Xavier Watts secured an interception that turned into three points. Later on, sophomore Adon Shuler scored a pick-six that put the game away. Those two players and their ball-hawking capabilities give Moore plenty of added confidence.
“It helps a lot for sure,” he said with a smile.
Moving forward, filling the Benjamin Morrison void may not always look as seamless as it did in Atlanta. Of Notre Dame’s top three cornerbacks, one is a sophomore and two are freshmen. Mistakes will occur and teaching moments will arise as the playoff push continues. But as Morrison himself and head coach Marcus Freeman have both echoed, it’s not about the age, statistics or recruiting profile of the man playing the position. It’s about what that player does when the moment finds him.
On Saturday, Freeman couldn’t help but praise Moore’s work in Morrison’s absence.
“You can’t replace him with one guy, but dang — Leonard has done a great job.”
