Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 APRIL 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Bing, bam, boom. Simple as that. Again, Watts had NFL Draft stock af- ter a stellar 2023 season when he won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the best defensive player in college football. He recorded 7 interceptions that season — the first 7 in a career that was previously spent at wide receiver. Watts perma- nently moved to defensive back, and everything clicked. So much so that he felt like he had to run it back in 2024. All he did in that season was intercept 6 more passes on Notre Dame's way to the national championship game. In cementing himself as Notre Dame's best player on the defensive side of the ball in a 14-2 season, Watts did all he could to make himself a pure pro pros- pect in the eyes of NFL scouts. For two whole seasons, he could not have done anything more to make sure his 2025 NFL Draft experience came with as much optimism as possible. He's at peace with where he is in the process two months before his name can potentially be called. "I don't really care too much about what people have to say about me," Watts said. "At the end of the day, ev- erybody is going to have what they've chosen to talk about or what my strengths and weaknesses are. I do feel like I can make an impact at any given time on the field. Deep end of the field, in the box, blitzing." New Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden, Watts' coach at Notre Dame, can take a lot of credit for developing Watts into the player he is today — the No. 2 safety in the class and No. 40 overall prospect from any posi- tion according to Pro Football Focus in late February. Watts said Golden instilled a "get the ball" mentality in him. Watts was one of the best defensive players in all of col- lege football the last two seasons when it came to getting the ball. "Coach Golden, he is a very, very, very caring coach," Watts said. "When guys get that type of care from a coach and when they're putting in that much ef- fort, you want to go out there and play for him." Golden doesn't get all of the credit, obviously. Watts is the one putting him- self in the right spot at the right time to make plays. Golden can teach how to do that as best he can, but Watts actually has to do it. So he did — so many times that he afforded himself a major chance to do the same thing in an NFL uniform soon. There is no school other than Notre Dame he'd have wanted to represent in the league. "The brotherhood that we built, espe- cially this year, it was the biggest broth- erhood that I've been a part of," Watts Notre Dame's Combine Measurements And Results DT Howard Cross III Measurements: 6-foot-1⅜, 285 pounds, 32¼-inch arms, 10½-inch hands Testing results: 29-inch vertical, 8-foot-8 broad jump DT Rylie Mills Measurements: 6-foot-5⅜, 291 pounds, 32⅝-inch arms, 9⅞-inch hands Mills (knee) did not participate in testing or on-field workouts. LB Jack Kiser Measurements: 6-foot-1⅝, 231 pounds, 30 ⅜-inch arms, 9-inch hands Kiser did not test, but he received positive reviews for his positional drills. CB Benjamin Morrison Measurements: 6-foot-0¼, 193 pounds, 30⅜-inch arms, 9¼-inch hands Morrison (hip injury) did not participate in testing or on-field workouts. S Xavier Watts Measurements: 5-foot-11¾, 204 pounds, 30½-inch arms, 8⅝-inch hands Watts did not participate in testing or on-field workouts. TE Mitchell Evans Measurements: 6-foot-5⅜, 258 pounds, 31⅞-inch arms, 9½-inch hands Testing results: 4.74-second 40-yard dash (1.55-second 10-yard split), 31-inch vertical, 9-foot-7 broad jump, 7.25-second three-cone drill, 4.4-second short shuttle QB Riley Leonard Measurements: 6-foot-3¾, 216 pounds, 31⅝-inch arms, 9½-inch hands Based on in-person accounts, Leonard performed well in his on-field workout. He was a little late on a couple go balls and out-breaking routes, but overall, he looked like he built on the progress he showed during the second half of the 2024 regular season and subsequent CFP run. WR Beaux Collins Measurements: 6-foot-3, 201 pounds, 31⅝-inch arms, 9½-inch hands Collins did not participate in testing or on-field workouts. Safety Xavier Watts totaled 13 interceptions over the last two seasons, establishing himself as one of the nation's top defensive backs. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER