Howard Cross Jr., his dad, a 13-year NFL tight end, and current sideline reporter for the Giants Radio Network, can break it down as well as anyone. A natural three-technique, Cross III played nose tackle out of necessity for the Fighting Irish and fought through injuries to help them get to the date with the Buckeyes. His dad wondered aloud about the upcoming NFL scouting combine and the ensuing draft process, but his son was adamant about winning it all.
"The great thing about him is his willingness to do anything for the team," the elder Cross says. "Playing on a bad hamstring, a bad ankle, and he's like, 'We're going to the national championship.' I'm like, 'OK … I'm all for you. You've got your degree, so you go do whatever you think is best.' He stayed in there, he played hard, he fought through it. Like he said, they went to a national championship. If they had all their guys, they may have even had a chance. That was impressive."
Cross III is a product of the post-Aaron Donald Era, where short is not a disqualifier inside. The era began, really, when the Bengals took a 6-1 D-Tackle in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. The son of a former NFL player, Geno Atkins put together a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume with the most interior sacks of the decade of the 2010s.
By the 2014 draft, Atkins had been voted to both an All-Pro first- and second-team, so it wasn't all that outrageous that the 6-1 Donald went 13th to the Rams.
"Everybody has something to say about size," Cross III says. "I heard it when I was getting recruited out of high school. Same thing with the NFL. A lot of people said stuff like, 'Fantastic player. Good get-off. Some of the best technique I've seen. Just not big enough.'
"That's how the NFL was. But ever since Aaron Donald, everybody's like, 'Oh, that doesn't matter anymore.' There are a lot of D-Tackles my size or shorter having a lot of success. It's really just technique and natural leverage. Nothing beats leverage."
He's watched Atkins and Donald tape, and that of the 6-1 Grady Jarrett. He's been particularly attentive to a guy closer to his age, Tampa Bay's 6-0 Calijah Kancey, the 19th pick in the 2023 draft.
"If you get my elbow," Cross III says of the leverage game, "even you are going to stand me up. It's a pressure point."
He grew up among Giants like Amani Toomer and Tiki Barber and Eli Manning. He watched his dad's tape, but was sentenced to the offensive and defensive lines after he dropped everything at tight end in his first high school practice.