Newsstand: Two Notre Dame football players earn ESPN All-America status
Two of Notre Dame’s most important defensive players received ESPN All-America honors on Wednesday. Graduate senior safety Xavier Watts made the First Team and graduate senior defensive tackle Rylie Mills is on the Second Team.
Watts will suit up with his Fighting Irish teammates in the national championship game against Ohio State on Monday. Mills will watch from the sideline; he injured his knee in the first round of the College Football Playoff against Indiana and was ruled out for the rest of the CFP. He made it to the Orange Bowl last week and observed the game on crutches.
If he Irish have a chance of springing an upset as an 8.5-point underdog against the Buckeyes, Watts needs to be in the middle of disrupting the Ohio State offense — much in the same way Mills would’ve if he was healthy and available. Watts ranks second on the Irish roster in total tackles with 74 and has twice as many interceptions as anyone else with 6. Mills’ 7.5 sacks are 3 more than anyone else for the Irish, meanwhile.
Watts has been the Irish’s best ballhawk for two seasons running, and Mills has been right up there as one of the team’s best pass rushers in that span. Together, they’ve been two key cogs for coordinator Al Golden during what have been two phenomenal seasons on that side of the ball for the Irish. Golden is looking for one more standout performance from Watts and everyone else available when it matters most. When the lights are the brightest.
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Notre Dame tweets of the day
Irish quarterback Riley Leonard loves being an underdog.
Leonard loves leaning on his faith, too.
Chicago Bears legend Brian Urlacher, father of Irish freshman safety Kennedy Urlacher, is very impressed by the student-athletes in South Bend.
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“She’s getting into practice and feeling a lot better, so we’re happy about that.” — Fighting Irish women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey on sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo
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