Notre Dame's shutdown corner Leonard Moore earns early All-America nod. His elite coverage and ball-hawking skills already have scouts buzzing for 2026.
After his stellar 2025 campaign, Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore was named a Unanimous All-American. The 6-2, 195-pound Texas native finished with 31 total tackles, seven passes defended and a team-leading five interceptions. This upcoming season, Moore will be the best returning cornerback in the country. Outlets like ESPN, who are currently in the process of releasing their 'Way-Too-Early' series, already have Notre Dame's star defensive back tabbed as an All-American for 2026.
"Moore was a consensus All-American in 2025, and he would be the fifth player in Notre Dame's storied history to do it in back-to-back seasons," said ESPN's Mark Schlabach. "He was PFF's highest-rated cornerback from a power-conference team in coverage (92.6) and overall defensive grade (91.8)."
The Texas native is the fourth defensive back in Notre Dame history to have been named a Unanimous All-American joining Xavier Watts from 2023, Shane Walton from 2002 and Todd Lyght from 1989. Moore also joined Lyght as one of the only Jim Thorpe Award finalists to come through South Bend. Hopefully, this upcoming season will be the year the Thorpe Award comes to Notre Dame.
Moore was an impact player throughout the season and made his presence known despite missing two games in the regular season. He ended his season on an extremely high note in his last opportunity to make an impression for some post season accolades.
He finished the night in their 49-20 win over Stanford with an interception late in the second quarterback which set up a touchdown drive to put the Irish up 35-3 at halftime. Moore finished the night with three pass break-ups and five total tackles. It was shocking to watch Stanford's quarterback continually target Moore, but that was the result nonetheless.
Notre Dame finished the season No. 1 in the country in total interceptions (21) with their star, standout cornerback hauling in five of them. Moore continued to stack performance after performance and was named the Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week and the Jim Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week for his performance against Boise State where he finished with two interceptions, his career high.
Moore ranked 1st among all starting Power 4 cornerbacks in coverage grade (91.4) and 1st in overall defensive grades (90.9) according to PFF. Teams were well aware of Moore's abilities in coverage and was only targeted 11.5 percent of the coverage snaps he played.
He is expected to be the No. 1 cornerback in the country heading into next season. I believed he had that title entering this past season after being named the 2024 FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year and was named the No. 1 returning cornerback in college football by numerous outlets including PFF, CBS Sports, ESPN and the Associated Press. Moore will look to continue his dominance in 2026, which will likely be his final year at the collegiate level.
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