Notre Dame’s secondary features reigning Bronko Nagurski award winner Xavier Watts, but you might not know it based on some pre-season All-American lists. Watts has been getting overlooked for 1st team All-American honors in some publications and didn’t even crack the top 50 overall players in the country, according to ESPN. Reminder: the Nagurski Award is given to the BEST defensive player in the country. It seems like someone who won that award should be considered one of the 50 best players in the country.
As a reminder, here are a list of Xavier Watts’s accolades from 2023:
- 2023 Bronko Nagurski Award Winner
- 2023 Unanimous All-American
- 2023 FWAA All-American – First Team
- 2023 Walter Came All-American – First Team
- 2023 Associated Press All-American – First Team
- 2023 AFCA All-American – First Team
- 2023 The Sporting News All-American – First Team
- 2023 CBS Sports All-American – First Team
- 2023 The Athletic All-American – First Team
- 2023 USA Today All-American – First Team
That’s a lot of First-Team All-American lists, which makes sense for someone who won an award given to the best defensive player in the country. This summer, though, it seems en vogue to not have Watts a first-teamer. The Athletic, for instance, has Ohio State’s Caleb Downs and Georgia’s Malaki Starks as their first-team safeties. And they aren’t the only ones. USA Today, ESPN, and PFF also overlooked Watts on their first team.
Some publications, like CBS, Sporting News, and Walter Camp, have Watts on their first team, but after Watts’s 2023 campaign, it feels like he is getting almost no buzz as one of the best players in the country this year.
Watts led the nation in interceptions last year with seven while collecting 52 tackles, 3 TFL, and 0.5 sacks. He also forced a fumble and recovered another fumble for a touchdown. After the USC and Pitt games, he won Defensive Player of the Week honors from various publications. Watts made #1 overall pick Caleb Wiliams’s only trip to South Bend an absolute nightmare with two interceptions in Notre Dame’s blowout of the Trojans last October.
All of this sounds like someone better than 52nd overall in the country. ESPN meanwhile has Starks as the #10 overall player in the country – 42 spots higher than Watts. Reminder: Watts beat out Starks, who was also a finalist, for the Nagurski Award last year.
Pre-season All-American lists, watch lists, and all of that generally don’t mean much. Still, I can’t remember Notre Dame ever having a player with Watts’s resume getting overlooked for pre-season honors this much before. Watts came out of nowhere last year to become one of the best defensive players in the country, but it feels like to the national media, he might have to prove himself all over again.
Don’t get me wrong—both Downs and Starks are great players as well, but Watts has improved every year he has been at Notre Dame and was significantly better than both last year. Why wouldn’t he continue to do so this year—especially with an elite defense surrounding him?
Watts has had a career of proving himself over and over again, though. He came to Notre Dame as a wide receiver, then moved to linebacker and ultimately found a home at safety, where his career took off last fall. Watts could have left for the NFL following his breakthrough campaign, but he chose to return to Notre Dame for one final season, and it looks like he’ll have to reprove himself over again.
Am I overreacting? Perhaps. Still, Xavier Watts is a reigning defensive player of the year. Put some respect on that man’s name.
