DANIA BEACH, Fla. — How much respect does Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts have for Penn State tight end Tyler Warren?
So much that when searching for someone to compare Warren to, the only one Watts could think to name was former Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer.
“There’s no one I really played against that I can compare to him for the most part,” Watts said Tuesday in Dania Beach, Fla., as the seventh-seeded Irish (13-1) prepare to take on sixth-seeded Penn State (13-2) in the Thursday’s Orange Bowl for a College Football Playoff semifinal.
“Teammate-wise, maybe a little bit like Mike Mayer. He's obviously a lot bigger than Mike, but he's a really good player. It's gonna be a challenge. They find a lot of ways to try to get him the ball. A lot of shifts and motions to hide where he's at. Not a lot of people I played against that have been like him.”
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The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Mayer left Notre Dame as a consensus All-American and the Notre Dame program record holder for tight end receptions in a game (11), tight end receptions in a season (71 in 2021) and career (180 in 2020-22), tight end receiving yards in a season (840 in 2021) and career (2,099) and tight end touchdown receptions in a season (9 in 2022) and career (18).
The 6-6, 261-pound Warren is putting up monster numbers of his own this season, which earned him the John Mackey Award in December as college football’s most outstanding tight end. Through 15 games Warren has tallied 98 catches for 1,158 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s also rushed 24 times for 197 yards and four touchdowns. Warren has even throw six passes and completed three of them for 35 yards and one touchdown.
Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki schemes up ways to get the ball in Warren’s hands as often as possible.
“He's a very unique player,” Watts said. “He's 6-6. He's 260 at tight end. So, obviously, he has really good size. They try to find a lot of ways to get him the ball. He does quarterback. He does tight end. He does receiver and long snapper. Then a lot of shifts and motion they use to try to hide where he is. He's a really good player.
“Always coming in, you gotta figure out where he's at. But at the end of the day, as long as we do what we need to do, we'll be good.”
Notre Dame hasn’t really been challenged by a tight end all season. The season-high for catches for an opposing tight end against Notre Dame is four by Virginia’s Tyler Neville. The season-high for receiving yards for an opposing tight end against Notre Dame is 36 by Purdue’s Max Klare.
Tight ends have accounted for 29 catches for 300 yards against the Irish this season. Warren caught 17 passes for 224 yards and one touchdown in a single game against USC in October.
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Notre Dame tends to play a lot of man coverage with one deep safety over the top. Defensive coordinator Al Golden, who was a Penn State tight end himself from 1988-91, could throw in some wrinkles to try to prevent Warren from becoming such a weapon in Penn State’s passing attack.
Watts, a 2023 unanimous All-American and 2024 consensus All-American, hasn’t backed down from man coverage assignments all season. Per Pro Football Focus, Watts has been targeted in coverage 30 times this season and allowed just 16 catches for 157 yards. He’s played 448 coverage snaps this season, which is 79 more than the second-most for ND this season (cornerback Christian Gray).
“We love the challenge of that,” Watts said. “We take it to heart when [Golden’s] calling cover man. Like we know he just wants us to go out there and lock up and everybody to win. So, when he has that much confidence in us, it gives us the confidence that, all right, he's calling this because he knows we can win, and we're going to win.”
Warren’s quarterback, Drew Allar, could present a challenge for Notre Dame’s defense as well. The matchup will pit the quarterback with the 10th-best passing efficiency (157.2) in the FBS this season against the nation’s No. 1 team passing efficiency defense (99.88).
Allar completed 250 of his 371 passes (67.4%) for 3,192 yards and 24 touchdowns in the first 15 games this season. The Irish have limited opposing quarterbacks to 206-of-407 passing (50.6%) for 2,344 yards and 12 touchdowns.
In a game that features strong rushing offenses and defenses for both teams, the Orange Bowl, which kicks off Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN, could be decided by which quarterback fails to make plays. Watts is confident that Notre Dame’s defense, even with Warren as a target, can keep Allar in check.
“He's a good player,” Watts said. “He's an experienced quarterback. He makes some good plays, but at the same time, I think we can mess with any quarterback with our defense we have.
“It's just the way we challenge people. Not a lot of people on film will challenge other teams like we do. So when we come against teams, they have a different type of mindset and game plan.
“But he makes some really good throws, makes really good decisions. At the end of the day, we always feel like there's something we can take advantage of.”
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