Newsstand: Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts named Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist
Notre Dame graduate student safety Xavier Watts is a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, the award’s sponsor, Paycom, announced Tuesday. The honor is given to the best defensive back in college football this season.
Watts is one of 15 semifinalists, alongside Oregon’s Jabbar Muhammad, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Texas’ Jahdae Barron, Michigan’s Will Johnson, Georgia’s Malaki Starks, Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy, Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Arizona’s Tacario Davis, UNLV’s Jalen Catalon, California’s Nohl Williams, Illinois’ Xavier Scott, James Madison’s Terrence Spence, Navy’s Rayuan Lane III and South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori.
Paycom will reveal the finalists Nov. 26, and the winner will be announced at 9 p.m. ET on Dec. 12. Watts would be the first Fighting Irish player to win the Thorpe Award and the third to be named a finalist, following Bobby Taylor (1993) and Todd Lyght (1989).
Watts returned to the Irish after his breakout season in 2023, in which he intercepted 7 passes and was named a unanimous All-American. He also won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player.
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In 2024, Watts has been even better. His interceptions are “down,” sitting at 3 through eight games. But quarterbacks targeting Watts are 11-of-20 for 105 yards (5.25 yards per attempt) with zero touchdowns. He’s also improved his tackling, totaling 31 stops, which leads all non-linebackers on the team.
“I wanted to come back and improve, just starting in the spring,” Watts said in September. “From all the training I’ve done, I feel like I’ve gotten really better at commanding the entire defense. …. It’s been really great to see how much I’ve improved as a player and then still going to continue to prove as the season goes on.”
Notre Dame Tweets of the day
Scary hours in South Bend.
Scary for opposing women’s basketball defenses:
Thursday was Halloween, if you couldn’t tell.
Quote of the day
“Four of those guys that started the game were here [last year]. [Princeton graduate transfer] Matt Allocco’s played a lot of basketball games, a lot of high-level basketball games. He knows what we’re doing. He knows what we’re talking about. He can follow the scouting report. Now you’re subbing Logan [Imes]. Now you’re subbing J.R. [Konieczny]. Now you’re subbing [Julian] Roper. You’re bringing in more guys that know our system.”
— Notre Dame head men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry
Headlines of the day
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- Notre Dame scouting talented underclassman TE PJ MacFarlane
- Notre Dame football bye week No. 2 report card: Grading the Irish defense and special teams
- How Notre Dame men’s basketball built optimism in exhibition win
