While the Notre Dame football team has likely moved on from celebrating its win over the USC Trojans, there is one player who can still look back and smile about Saturday’s game thanks to the award he was given on Tuesday. Xavier Watts staged one the best performances of his career in his final regular season game. This week he was named the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week because of it.
Watts stood out for his 9 tackles, 1 pass breakup, 1 QB Hit and an interception that he returned for a 100-yard touchdown to seal the victory. That interception return, by the way allowed Watts to put his name in the Fighting Irish record book one more time as it tied for the longest return for a TD in school history.
The individual honor is obviously very cool for the Notre Dame star defender. He stands alone with Ashton Jeanty, who received the same honor on the offensive side of the ball, but it also shows just how ridiculous it is that Watts’ wasn’t named as a Bronco Nagurski finalist after winning the award a year ago.
Notre Dame football star Xavier Watts gets yet another honor
eXcellence
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) December 3, 2024
Another weekly accolade for 0️⃣@xavierwatts6 has been named the @WalterCampFF Defensive Player of the Week#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/Co7JIn0JOc
Is Watts somehow not one of the best defenders in the country? You be the judge. The safety finished the regular season with 50 tackles, 8 pass breakups, 5 interceptions, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and his first career touchdown.
Compare that to his 2023 season where he had 52 tackles, 4 pass breakups, 7 interceptions, half a sack and a forced fumble. It’s also worth pointing out that the Notre Dame football star put up those numbers with on extra game than he’s played so far this year.