Xavier Watts: S · Notre Dame.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Xavier Watts
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away. Played for two head coaches in four seasons at Notre Dame. That makes two straight seasons on the honors list: All-America (Consensus) again in 2024. On tape: 8 tackles against Northern Illinois, Week 2, 2024.
Play style
Hits like a linebacker and still takes the ball away.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
83 tackles. 9 passes defended. 6 interceptions. 3.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Yahoo Sports Oct 27Yahoo Sports Oct 18Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Notre Dame | 83 | 53 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 9 | 6 |
| 2023 | Notre Dame | 47 | 28 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 3 | 7 |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 36 | 22 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2 | -- |
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 15 | 11 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 181 | 114 | 8.5 | 1.5 | 14 | 13 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2024 season · 16 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 23-13@ No. 20 Texas A&M | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | L 14-16vs Northern Illinois | 8 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 66-7@ Purdue | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | W 28-3vs Miami (OH) | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 2 | |
| Wk 5 | W 31-24vs No. 15 Louisville | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Wk 7 | W 49-7vs Stanford | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | W 31-13vs Georgia Tech | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 9 | W 51-14vs No. 24 Navy | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 52-3vs Florida State | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | W 35-14vs Virginia | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Wk 13 | W 49-14vs No. 18 Army | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | W 49-35@ USC | 9 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Bowl | W 27-17vs No. 9 Indiana | 10 | 5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 23-10vs No. 2 Georgia | 7 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | W 27-24vs No. 5 Penn State | 8 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 23-34vs No. 6 Ohio State | 8 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 83 | 53 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 6 | 9 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
11%9 pass breakupsInterceptions
6interceptionsTackle volume
83tackles this seasonTFL rate
4%4 TFL83 tackles · 3.5 for loss · 9 pass breakups · 6 interceptions.
Splits · Per-game
2024 season · 16 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 4.9 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Road3g | 4.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-710g | 5.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.5 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 4.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Marcus Freeman
Pass share
44.3%
442 pass / 555 run
Plays / game
62.3
16 games
Team sack rate
4.7%
469 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2024
First team on a majority of the recognized selector lists.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #2 at the position.
Selector Grid · 2024
Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.
How it ended
Four seasons at Notre Dame, 181 tackles, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (2023) — drafted at #96 overall by the Atlanta Falcons.
A blue-chip recruit with honors.
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS
Consensus AA (2024)
10 first-team selectors
National awards
Nagurski
2023 season
Coaching lineage · 2020–2024
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Brian Kelly → Marcus Freeman. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Next stop · NFL
Atlanta FalconsEntering 2nd NFL season
Atlanta FalconsEntering 2nd NFL season
