Safety, Notre Dame, 2020–24
Xavier Watts
- Height
- 6′0″
- Weight
- 203 lb
- Class (2024)
- Senior
- Hometown
- Omaha, NE
- Born
- Nov 22, 2001, in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Wikipedia readers: about 4,826 a month over the past year
Xavier Watts played safety at Notre Dame (2020–24). He won the 2023 Bronko Nagurski Trophy. He was a consensus All‑American in 2023 and 2024. The Atlanta Falcons took Watts in round 3, No. 96 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
10tackles, career highvs. Indiana, 20242interceptions, career hightwice; last vs. Pittsburgh, 2023Honors
Season by season, from Wikipedia
| Season | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | GS | Solo | Ast | Tot | TFL | Sacks | Int | Yds | TD | PD | FR | FF | |
| 2020 | 2 | 0 | |||||||||||
| 2021 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 13 | 4 | 24 | 15 | 39 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 13 | 13 | 30 | 22 | 52 | 3 | 0.5 | 7 | 137 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 16 | 16 | 52 | 30 | 82 | 3.5 | 0 | 6 | 136 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Career | 55 | 33 | 117 | 71 | 188 | 8.5 | 1.5 | 13 | 273 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 2 |
From the college statistics table in Watts’s Wikipedia article (Xavier Watts, CC BY-SA), season by season as the article gives them, bowls included where it counts them. Our own records come from box scores, which start in 2004 (tackles in 2016, kickoff returns in 2009).
On the roster
| Season | Team | Pos | Class | Ht | Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Notre Dame | S | RS | ||
| 2021 | Notre Dame | S | Fr. | ||
| 2022 | Notre Dame | S | So. | ||
| 2023 | Notre Dame | S | Jr. | ||
| 2024 | Notre Dame | S | Sr. | 6′0″ | 203 |
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Game by game
2024 Notre Dame 16 games, 83 tackles, 6 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31 | at Texas A&M | W 23–13 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 7 | vs. Northern Illinois | L 14–16 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 14 | at Purdue | W 66–7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 21 | vs. Miami (OH) | W 28–3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 28 | vs. Louisville | W 31–24 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Oct 12 | vs. Stanford | W 49–7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 19 | vs. Georgia Tech | W 31–13 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Oct 26 | vs. Navy | W 51–14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nov 9 | vs. Florida State | W 52–3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 16 | vs. Virginia | W 35–14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nov 23 | vs. Army | W 49–14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 30 | at USC | W 49–35 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dec 20 ✦ | vs. Indiana | W 27–17 | 10 | 5 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jan 2 ✦ | vs. Georgia | W 23–10 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 9 ✦ | vs. Penn State | W 27–24 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 20 ✦ | vs. Ohio State | L 23–34 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2023 Notre Dame 12 games, 47 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 7 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26 | vs.Navy | W 42–3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2 | vs. Tennessee State | W 56–3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 9 | at NC State | W 45–24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sep 23 | vs.Ohio State | L 14–17 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 30 | at Duke | W 21–14 | 8 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct 7 | atLouisville | L 20–33 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 14 | vs.USC | W 48–20 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Oct 28 | vs. Pittsburgh | W 58–7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Nov 4 | at Clemson | L 23–31 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nov 18 | vs. Wake Forest | W 45–7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 25 | atStanford | W 56–23 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 29 ✦ | vs. Oregon State | W 40–8 | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
2022 Notre Dame 11 games, 36 tackles, 1 sack
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 10 | vs. Marshall | L 21–26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 17 | vs. California | W 24–17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 24 | at North Carolina | W 45–32 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 8 | vs. BYU | W 28–20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 15 | vs.Stanford | L 14–16 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 22 | vs. UNLV | W 44–21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 29 | at Syracuse | W 41–24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 5 | vs.Clemson | W 35–14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 12 | vs.Navy | W 35–32 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 19 | vs. Boston College | W 44–0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 26 | atUSC | L 27–38 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2021 Notre Dame 5 games, 15 tackles
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 9 | at Virginia Tech | W 32–29 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 6 | vs.Navy | W 34–6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 13 | atVirginia | W 28–3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 27 | atStanford | W 45–14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. Oklahoma State | L 35–37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
| Drill | Combine 2025 | Combine or pro day 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 5′11¾″ | |
| Weight | 204 lb | |
| Arm length | 31¼″ | |
| Hand size | 8⅝″ | |
| Wingspan | 76½″ | |
| 40-yard dash | 4.56 sW | |
| 10-yard split | 1.62 sW | |
| Vertical jump | 35″W | |
| Broad jump | 9′10″W |
Combine or pro day: the source doesn’t say which. Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
2 seasons, 22 games with a stat; latest team: Atlanta Falcons.
| Season | Team | G | Tkl | Sacks | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Atlanta Falcons | 17 | 94 | 0 | 5 |
| 2026 (so far) | Atlanta Falcons | 5 | 34 | 0.5 | 1 |
| NFL career | 22 | 128 | 0.5 | 6 | |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
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