Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts will play in Sun Bowl, still undecided on NFL Draft
If there was ever a poster child for college football fans who aren’t in favor of players opting out of bowl games, it’d be Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts. The Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner said Tuesday that he’s undecided on coming back to South Bend or entering the 2024 NFL Draft, but one thing is certain.
He’s playing in the Sun Bowl vs. Oregon State (8-4) on Dec. 29.
“I kind of just want to play football regardless,” the national defensive player of the year said. “Even if I was, maybe, to decide to go to the draft, I think I’d probably lean toward wanting to play the game anyway. Regardless, it’s your last time around all the same guys you’re going to be with. It’s your last time as the 2023 Fighting Irish. I probably would have played if I was leaving or coming back anyway.”
Watts led the nation with 7 interceptions this season. He’s got a chance to add to that total in El Paso for No. 16 Notre Dame (9-3) against a Beavers team that will be quarterbacked by third-string signal-caller Ben Gulbranson. OSU’s top two QBs are in the transfer portal.
Interceptions are certainly on Watts’ mind. They always are.
“I could have had 10 or 11 if I capitalized more on some more opportunities, different route recognitions and stuff,” Watts said.
Clearly, there is self-admitted room for to grow. He’s fully aware of that, which is part of the reason why he has not declared for the draft yet. Watts isn’t limiting growth to his skillset at safety either. He singled out Notre Dame linebacker JD Bertrand as someone he’d like to emulate if he were to stay at Notre Dame.
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“He’s the captain of the defense,” Watts said. “He runs the entire show of the whole defense. He brings everybody up. He motivates everybody. He’s on the sideline, waling up and down, telling the guys to get ready. I think the next step for me is getting to that type of level.”
There is certainly an opportunity for that if he stays. Notre Dame is set to lose a lot of veteran leadership, and Watts could slide into one of those frontline roles if he gives it one more go in college.
Currently in the middle of a one-year master’s program he’ll finish in May, Watts could leave Notre Dame with two degrees if he went to the NFL in a few months. He’s put himself in draftable position. But he certainly made it sound like he has unfinished on-field business at Notre Dame as well.
“Taking those next steps will benefit me even more,” he said.
