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An inside look at the injury-ridden Notre Dame football linebacker position

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

The injury bug has ravaged the Notre Dame locker room early in the season, and it has caused head coach Brian Kelly to restructure his roster. Sophomore Xavier Watts, who checks in at 5-11¾ and 195 pounds, has switched positions from wide receiver to rover.

And even in the early stages of that development, he is being heavily counted on.

“He certainly looks the part,” Kelly said. “We’re going to play him Saturday. He’s going to play rover when we get into the right situation.”

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish football sophomore Xavier Watts
Sophomore Xavier Watts has moved from wide receiver to rover after injuries depleted the latter. (Mike Miller)

Kelly said Notre Dame is going to pick and choose when Watts gets into Saturday's game against Toledo (2:30 p.m. ET, Peacock). Watts still doesn't know all the intricacies of the position. But Kelly is adamant this is more than just a move for practice purposes.

"Xavier is a really good football player, and we need to get good players on the field," Kelly said.

Watts' move came about by two external factors. First, Kelly said there is a "logjam" at the wide receiver position. Watts was on the back end of it, and he wasn't in a position to push for serious playing time.

Second, and probably more pertinent to the situation at hand, Notre Dame has experienced a rash of injuries at linebacker. Projecting will linebacker starter Marist Liufau was lost for the season when he broke his ankle toward the end of fall camp.

Fellow will linebacker Shayne Simon tore his labrum against Florida State. He had surgery on Thursday. His season is over. Rover Paul Moala tore his Achilles tendon against the Seminoles. He is obviously out of the season too.

Poof. Three linebackers gone from the Notre Dame depth chart, just like that.

"We have had more surgeries in the first week than you’d want to have," Kelly said. "That’s a concern. We cannot continue on this trend of having guys out for the entire season because of year-ending surgeries.”

So here's where the Irish linebacker situation stands going into the home opener. Sophomore JD Bertrand led the team in tackles against Florida State. He's going to start again at will, and he's going to play almost all the snaps there. True freshman Prince Kollie is listed as Bertrand's backup. He could make an impact as soon as Saturday when Bertrand needs a breather.

Junior Jack Kiser and graduate senior Isaiah Pryor are going to trade most of the snaps at rover. Obviously, Kelly said Watts will get a few looks there as well. But Kiser and Pryor are primed to get majority of playing time at the position.

The mike linebacker position has remained relatively unfazed despite the crazy carousel rotating at the two linebacker positions that flank it. Graduate senior Drew White is the starter, and senior Bo Bauer is the second-stringer. Like Kiser and Pryor at will, that duo has a firm grip on snaps in the middle.

If the last few weeks have taught Kelly and company anything, though, it's to never get complacent. Watts could become a big contributor on defense. Who saw that coming in fall camp?

Well, maybe more people than you think.

"We had been having conversations about finding a role for X because he's such a fine player and a fine athlete," Kelly said.

Kelly and his coaching staff was prepared for something like this. Now it's actually happening. If more injuries come the Notre Dame linebacker room's way, then Kelly will have to keep adapting.

That's the essence of coaching, though. Pushing the right buttons. Pulling the right strings. Kelly just hopes there are enough strings left to pull by the end of the season. They're falling by the wayside in a hurry.

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