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Notre Dame

A two-time All-American and ballhawk extraordinaire at Notre Dame, Xavier Watts proved the NFL wrong as a rookie.  Watts, selected in the third round

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Blue and Gold Football

Blue and Gold

Newsstand: Former Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts named finalist for Defensive Rookie of the Year

Throughout his final two seasons at Notre Dame, former Irish safety Xavier Watts averaged 1 interception every 2.2 games.  So far in his NFL career

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Notre Dame in the NFL: Xavier Watts picks up where he left off

One of the best weekends on the football calendar is officially in the books. After three wild days in Green Bay, where the draft attendance record

Abdul Carter Penn State Football On3

KSR+ Football

KSR+

Luckett's 2025 NFL Draft Takeaways: NFC

With their second pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons traded up from No. 46 to No. 26 to select Tennessee edge rusher James Pierce Jr. As

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Why Atlanta Falcons traded up for Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts

Over the past half-decade, Notre Dame has laid a claim to Safety U.  On April 25, the Irish placed their fifth safety in the NFL when the Atlanta

Xavier Watts

Gimme Five: Xavier Watts joins elite list of Notre Dame safeties in NFL

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Notre Dame defensive back Xavier Watts led the country with seven interceptions during the 2023 season, but he's not satisfied and has big dreams for the future. "I am not coming into the 2024 season being like, ‘Oh, I need to get seven interceptions again,’" said Watts, who won the Bronko Nagurski Award and earned unanimous All-America honors in 2023. “I still think I’m a little raw at safety. I mean, I had a really good season last year, but I feel like I can have an even better season, even if it’s not with all of those statistics. I just think it comes down to being comfortable. Just having that mindset of like, ‘I’m a veteran now.’ I have to know exactly what I’m doing. I need to know exactly what everyone else is doing and be able to command the defense. Just taking that progression to right now from last year and having a totally different mindset.”

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