Notebook: Xavier Watts volunteers for double duty to help bolster Irish
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In a 90-play scrimmage in Notre Dame Stadium on Thursday morning, Irish junior Xavier Watts managed to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Simultaneously.
But above all unselfishness.
A day after lining up for wide receiver drills during the 45-minute media viewing window on practice No. 11 of fall training camp on Wednesday, the Irish backup safety played both ways Thursday in the closed scrimmage won by the offense.
“It's a ‘now’ thing,” Notre Dame first-year head football coach Marcus Freeman said when asked if Watts’ dabbling at his original college position as a freshman was permanent. “Right now he was in blue (offense) 26 but he was also in white (defense) 4 today.
“He did both sides of the ball today and did a really good job. To be able to go over there and help us on offense, we're obviously down some numbers. Then the next series, he's in on defense. It talks to his character.”
And endurance.
After losing sixth-year grad captain Avery Davis last week for the season to a second ACL tear in nine months, the Irish wide receiver inventory stood at seven scholarship players. Two of those — sophomores Deion Colzie (knee sprain) and Jayden Thomas (mild hamstring pull) — have been held out of drills and scrimmage periods this week because of injuries.
A third, grad senior Joe Wilkins Jr. — just this week — has begun his first drill work since suffering a Lisfranc fracture in his right foot during spring practice.
The offensive line suddenly has also caught the injury bug, with starting left guard Jarrett Patterson’s sprained foot the most concerning as it leave his questionable for fifth-ranked Notre Dame’s Sept. 3 season opener at No. 2 Ohio State.
Meanwhile, the healthy receivers comprise grad seniors Braden Lenzy and Matt Salerno, the latter a former walk-on, along with sophomore Lorenzo Styles and freshman Tobias Merriweather.
Freeman, incidentally, noted Merriweather made a number of “big catches” — in line with an overall impressive training camp to date from the 6-4, 198-pound West Camas, Wash. product.
“You’ve gotta remember he just got here in June,” Freeman said, “and he goes out there and he looks physically like he's been in college for a year or two. He plays the game at a high level.”
Watts, meanwhile, was recruited as a wide receiver out of Henry A. Burke High in Omaha, Neb., though he was a standout on both sides of the ball.
He played in just two games in 2020 as a freshman, in part due to intermittent injuries, and did not register a reception. But a week into his sophomore season at ND he was shifted to rover when a run of season-ending injuries at the linebacker/rover positions (Marist Liufau, Paul Moala, Shayne Simon) prompted the move for week 2 of the 2021 season.
Five weeks later, during ND’s bye week, the 6-foot, 193-pound Watts shifted to safety and began ascending at that position, particularly against the run. Injured All-America safety Kyle Hamilton took Watts under his wing and helped tutor him personally.
This past spring, Watts’ future looked so promising at safety that he turned down a chance to go back to wide receiver when that position was short on numbers.
“He was really, really progressing as a safety,”Freeman said. “The unselfishness out of him. We left it with him: “Hey, we need a couple bodies on offense. We need some guys to help us out. We're down in wideouts.’
And he's like, ‘Coach, if it's what's best for the team, I'm gonna do it. He's been going on offense and defense."
Scrimmage details
The prize for winning Thursday’s scrimmage was the right for that side of the ball to get to wear blue jerseys, rather than white, in future practices.
The offense retained the blue jerseys with a win.
“At the end of the day, it was because of turnovers,” Freeman said. “I told the guys defensively, ‘If you don't get takeaways, you're not going to win the jersey scrimmage. Offensively, if you don't turn the ball over, you will win the jersey scrimmage.’ There was only one turnover, and the result is that the offense kept the jerseys."
No. 1 QB, sophomore Tyler Buchner, committed the turnover, per Freeman, throwing an interception that grad senior cornerback TaRiq Bracy picked off.
“Tyler was rolling out, getting ready to go out of bounds and threw it across his body,” Freeman said, “which we know we don't like. It's one of those teaching moments that hey, I would much rather on third down throw the ball out of bounds than turn the ball over.”
Freeman said the 1s on offense against the 1s on defense for roughly 30 plays. Same for the 2s vs. 2s and similarly for the 3s vs. 3s.
“We've done more good on good (1s vs. 1s) probably than I've ever done,” he said. “But I think it's what's necessary in terms of developing an identity, developing a confidence in the things that you are good at.
“That's probably the biggest thing is that, hey, we're not going to do a whole bunch of scout work right now. We're gonna go 1s on 1s, 2a on 2s, and we're going to be competitive. That’s the reason.
“Injuries can be a result of that. It's called training camp. I just told them that it's supposed to be hard. You're battling against each other. Now as we are about two weeks out, we have to be really smart in terms of how we'll prepare, obviously, for Ohio State as we move forward.
“But I was really pleased with the 12 practices that we've had. This group's competitive, man. They really don't care how they feel. They go out there and work. When you challenge them, they always rise to a challenge. I'm excited to coach this group and was really happy with what I saw today."
Which specialists are special?
With a 3-of-4 performance on field goals in Thursday’s scrimmage, Arkansas State transfer Blake Grupe continues to put some distance between himself and sophomore Josh Bryan as ND’s No. 1 option as place-kicker, as well as the struggles both of them experienced in the spring.
Per Freeman, Grupe’s only miss Thursday was a 53-yarder. But he also made a 53-yarder, three yards longer than his career high in five years at Arkansas State.
“He's been really consistent over the last few practices when we've been kicking field goals,” Freeman said, “and it's been really good to see."
Grupe was 20-of-25 on field goals last season (.800), and 64-of-86 (.744) in his career with the Red Wolves.
Among Notre Dame kickers with 50 or more career attempts, only Justin Yoon (.808) and Jonathan Doerer (.754) have better career conversion rates.
Meanwhile, there’s no decision yet on the No. 1 punter, a competition between Harvard grad transfer Jon Sot and freshman Bryce McFerson, but Sot has been getting more No. 1 reps in practice, according to Freeman.
Beyond fair catches?
Freeman promised special teams coordinator Brian Mason the run of the roster when he hired him in Jauary, and if the season started tomorrow the No. 1 option to return punts would be All-America safety Brandon Joseph.
Joseph returned four for 114 yards last season for Northwestern before transferring to ND in January.
“It's just about decision-making back there,” Freman said of what he's looking for in a punt returner. “We have to make good decisions. The next part is can we make plays? Can you be explosive in terms of the return game?"
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