SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Xavier Watts never got to play in his first scheduled Blue-Gold Game.
Or any of the other 13 spring practices that followed a Notre Dame spring football opening session in early March back in 2020 in which he impressed as a freshman early enrollee.
Included in those gawking at the aspiring wide receiver running routes in shorts and no pads that day — before COVID-19 rerouted the rest of the spring, summer and even the 2020 season to a large extent — was then-Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.
Watts remembers it differently, though — specifically, as someone who still had a lot to prove. And even now, two position switches later and a recognition as college football’s best defensive player on his résumé, the Irish grad senior safety is approaching his fourth actual Blue-Gold Game with the same mindset.
And everything else that follows.
“The main reason I came back is to elevate my game to another level,” the reigning Bronko Nagurski Award winner and unanimous All-American said ahead of Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium (1 p.m. EDT; Peacock Streaming, wsbtradio.com, SiriusXM Channels 381 and 971).
“I still think I’m a little raw at safety. I mean, I had a really good season last year, but I feel like I can have an even better season, even if it’s not with all of those statistics (including a nation’s leading seven interceptions). And being a captain would mean a lot to me.”
And what a beacon he could be for young players who stall in the depth chart or have to wait for their opportunities.
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There is, admittedly, a healthy percentage of happily-ever-afters for those who choose to handle those circumstances with a plunge into the transfer portal. Watts, though, is living proof that there’s an alternative.
His canceled Blue-Gold Game in 2020 was followed by a season in which he saw just 16 snaps of game action, 13 of them running plays, and zero passes thrown in his direction — much less corralled by him.
In fact, his only quasi-real college catch came in the 2021 Blue-Gold Game. For zero net yards.
By September he was converted to an emergency rover — for the good of the team. By midseason he was moved to the defensive backfield, at safety — for the good of the team.
And what turned out to be his own good.
The other two wide receivers in that 2020 class, Jay Brunelle and Jordan Johnson, had already left the Notre Dame roster by then via transfer.
“It’s funny, because coach [Marcus] Freeman just asked me two days ago if I think I could still play receiver,’ the 6-foot, 201-pound Omaha, Neb., product said earlier this month. “I told him, ‘Yeah. I could still play receiver.’ But that’s way down the road. I’m not thinking about that anymore. I’m all safety, all defense.”
And all in on Notre Dame.
His NFL dream can wait. But not his master’s degree in business analytics, which he’s on schedule to attain next month. Or a chance, as a member of the Gold team Saturday, to go 4-0 in Blue-Gold Game competitions.
“I just think it comes down to being comfortable,” he said of his current mental snapshot. “Just having that mindset of like, ‘I’m a veteran now.’ I have to know exactly what I’m doing. I need to know exactly what everyone else is doing and be able to command the defense. Just taking that progression to right now from last year and having a totally different mindset.”
And coaxing growth in a surging young safety group around him.
Transfer Rod Heard II, a June arrival once he completes his degree work at Northwestern next month, is expected to replace DJ Brown as Watts’ starting sidekick. But sophomore Adon Shuler may be one of the most improved players on the team on either side of the ball.
And sophomore Luke Talich, a former walk-on, is ascending rapidly as well, to the point that both could be a part of a playing rotation at safety rather than backups.
“You see a different mentality with those guys, especially with most of the older guys gone,” Watts said. “So, it’s kind of their time to shine now. They’ve got to get more prepared.
“Obviously, Adon has been getting a lot more locked in mentally. He’s been asking a lot more questions. He’s been taking it a lot more seriously. Luke and Ben [Minich] as well. They’ve really been locked in. Everybody’s just trying to perfect their craft and be the best version of themselves.”
Which has always been Watts’ mantra.
Minich, a sophomore, and early enrolled freshman Kennedy Urlacher are the other safeties scheduled to play in Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game. Two more freshmen, Brauntae Johnson and Taebron Bennie-Powell, join the Irish roster in June.
“I’m sitting in the locker room, it’s like, ‘Dang, I’m really kind of the old guy now.’” Watts said. “Adon looks like he’s older (laughs). It’s a whole bunch of young guys, but it’s good to see.
“It helps elevate my game as well. It opens up a new kind of trait. LIke, I’m a laid back guy, but it makes me step out of my comfort zone and open up a new personality to start coaching the young guys because I know the whole defense.
“I can do everything, so now it’s just helping out the young guys and helps them elevate their game.”
And see a path forward through patience and perseverance.
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