How Notre Dame’s in-season youth movement reached the safety position
Life after Kyle Hamilton was already a challenging enough reality for Notre Dame to navigate this offseason.
The task took an apparent downgrade to untenable when Hamilton hit the Notre Dame Stadium turf in the first quarter Oct. 23, grabbed his knee and left the game.
Yet a month later and still awaiting Hamilton’s return, the No. 9 Irish (9-1) are undefeated without him and have allowed zero touchdowns in the last eight quarters.
Senior DJ Brown raised his hand first and stabilized the Hamilton-less position against USC and North Carolina’s pass-heavy offenses. Now, two sophomores who began the season at other positions have given it depth from unlikely sources. If their contributions in Notre Dame’s win over Virginia Saturday are a preview for the remainder of 2021, they’ll be in the mix to start next year if Hamilton makes an expected defection to the NFL Draft.
Ramon Henderson and Xavier Watts combined for nine tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and an interception in 66 snaps in the Irish’s 28-3 victory in Charlottesville. Henderson made a surprise start over Brown after moving to safety full-time from boundary corner five days earlier. Watts, the former receiver who flipped to defense in September, saw his first action since the move against Navy a week earlier and made five stops against the Cavaliers.
They are part of Notre Dame’s increased underclassmen usage in recent weeks.
“The development during the year, some of them weren’t ready to play at a high level, but as the year went on, they were called upon,” head coach Brian Kelly said. “I’d look at [defensive tackle] Rylie Mills, who may not be ready to play at a high level early, but he was later. Certainly, Ramon Henderson would be in that category, as well as Xavier.”
Notre Dame has taken its share of injury hits and made a few in-season lineup swaps due to ineffectiveness. It had openings at several important positions and returned 47 percent of its 2020 production (123rd nationally). This year was ripe for in-season development. The yield on that front is encouraging for 2022 and beyond as well as helpful in 2021.
Notre Dame’s offense has five freshmen starters or role players (not including Blake Fisher, the opening-day left tackle who was injured in his first half of action). On defense, six players who totaled no more than 40 snaps in 2020 have either started at least one game or found themselves as a key part of a game plan.
Furthermore, only Fisher was part of the Week 1 plan among that offensive group. None of Watts, Henderson and vyper Jordan Botelho played more than 40 total snaps in Notre Dame’s first three games. Botelho, it should be noted, was unavailable for the first two, but played five or fewer snaps in three of his first four outings.
“This is just the natural development of guys going out and developing and playing as we go, getting better each week,” Kelly said.
Henderson’s game at Virginia was a day of firsts. He started for the first time. He made his first tackle for loss and interception as well. It all looked natural — especially his interception. He avoided falling for the quarterback’s eye bait and covered 17 yards on his break from midfield to the numbers.
“It’s not been one week,” Kelly said of Henderson after the win. “We don’t just say, ‘You’re ready to go.’ It has been loading work on him, getting more confident in his ability to play the position. He has been showing that and it has been coming.”
Henderson had played 94 snaps in the prior three games, mainly in nickel and dime packages. His involvement wasn’t out of nowhere, but his move was. Notre Dame found his potential long-term home.
“His length and range really stood out for us as a safety in terms of what we were looking for,” Kelly said. “As we played him more at the nickel position, those things kind of stood out to us. When we got him in the game, it became apparent safety was a comfortable position for him.”
Watts, meanwhile, landed at safety after initially dabbling at rover. His five tackles at Virginia tied for second-most on the team. He made three straight stops on one second-quarter series. He showed the burst and change-of-direction ability that made him a coveted receiver recruit. His physicality was hard to miss.
“We just continue to impress upon some of the fundamentals with him,” Kelly said. “That next stage of development with him is being a little more aggressive and tackling. He has so much to offer.”
As long as Hamilton is out, it seems Notre Dame will give him the chance to show it. The same goes for Henderson. The two roommates earned their first taste of playing safety together this month. They’d like to remain there, this year and beyond. So would Notre Dame.
“I see him doing that and I’m like, ‘I have to do the same thing or go even harder,’” Henderson said. “We push each other to do our best.”
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