Xavier Watts At Home Playing Safety For Notre Dame

Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts is entrenched at his position on defense after experimenting at wide receiver last fall

The first three seasons at Notre Dame were a bit of a revolving door for Nebraska native Xavier Watts. The rising senior was a dominant prep player at Omaha (Neb.) Burke, hauling in 128 passes for 2,165 yards and 27 touchdowns. Notre Dame recruited Watts initially to catch passes, not defend against them, but that's what he is doing now. 

Watts soon moved to safety in 2021 after a freshman season in which he saw action against both South Florida and Florida State. The Omaha, Neb native had the raw tools and athleticism to play safety, but he was still fighting his way through the depth chart last fall when he cross-trained back at receiver due to thin numbers at the position.

He left receiver behind and his safety play steadily improved last fall as defense became his sole focus. As far as Watts can tell, there’s no more offense and all defense in his playing future.

“I think I'm set at safety for sure (this spring) and fall camp as well,” Watts said after a recent Fighting Irish spring practice.

Watts’ position coach, Chris O’Leary, never had a doubt about Watts’ ability to play safety, it was merely a matter of the right time and the right place for him. The team needed to at least see what he could give them after the season-ending knee injury to Avery Davis in fall camp.

Now, he is one of just three returning Irish players with safety experience in spring practice (the Irish have also added Oklahoma State graduate transfer Thomas Harper) and Watts’ skills are shining through.

“We saw his ceiling,” O’Leary said of Watts. “We talked about him last year and said he’s an NFL safety when he was playing wide receiver. It has taken the time to get to this point, and now I don’t think there’s any looking back for him.”

Watts has no official offensive stats to his credit in his three-year Irish career, but he has no regrets about his time on that side of the ball.

“It was like a fine experience,” Watts said of giving wide receiver a chance. “Obviously, it didn't work out again. I mean, I don't know why it didn't work out, but it is what it is. But, obviously, it's not like I regret anything. I just always went out there and just had fun and just tried to help out when I was needed and just do what I could do.”

Watts played in Notre Dame’s first nine games but didn’t make his first career start until the Navy game in November. He had a then career-high eight tackles against the Midshipmen and topped that two weeks later with nine against USC.

He finished 39 tackles, which tied for the tied sixth-most on the team. He finds himself in position to potentially headline the safety room this season, maybe.

“I don’t want to particularly say like a headliner guy,” Watts said when asked about that possibility. “I just think all of us together are just a strong unit in general. I feel like we all have different key assets that we bring to the game. I know. Like DJ's (Brown) really smart or more so aggressive. Ramon’s (Henderson) going to cover. So, we all bring different types of things. And, of course, we're still working to tighten up all those skills, but I just feel like each one of us bring different key assets to the game.”

Having one permanent position has helped Watts continue to develop through the early part of spring practice. It’s practice, watch film, meeting with O’Leary and the other safeties, more film, more practice on a continuous loop. It all goes a long way toward helping his route recognition, which he lists as one of his most important assets to gain.

“I think last season I missed out on a couple plays that I wish I could get back,” Watts explained. “So, obviously, like route recognition and just play -making, making more plays, has kind of been my focus for this spring.

“It's not always going to be perfect,” Watts continued. “That's why we practice. Just tighten up everything. Film. We do a lot of film study, meeting together. So, I just feel like practicing over and over again just eventually helps us get to that moment.”

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