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Notre Dame's Xavier Watts Denied Unanimous First Team All-American Honors
Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts (0) celebrates after an interception against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Notre Dame's Xavier Watts Denied Unanimous First Team All-American Honors

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By Nick Shepkowski  |  Last updated Dec 17, 2024 3:54 PM ET

Xavier Watts burst onto the scene defensively in 2023, bringing home the Bronco Nagurski Award as the nation's best defensive player.

The wide receiver-turned-safety then brought Notre Dame good news by deciding to return for his final year of eligibility in 2024, instead of entering the NFL draft.

What happened was that Watts followed up his massive showing in 2023 with an even better year in 2024, even if his interceptions totals dropped from seven to five.

Yet, as the Football Writers Association of America released its All-American Team on Tuesday, Watts didn't make the first team. The safety spots instead went to Caleb Downs of Ohio State and Malaki Starks of Georgia.

That means Watts won't earn Unanimous First-Team All-American honors for the second season in a row.

Downs is a player that doesn't get targeted often and understandably so but did haul in just one interception all season.

As for Starks, Greg Flammang of Irish Sports Daily broke down the numbers in comparison to Watts and its safe to say this was a big swing and a miss by the voters.

Not only did Watts put up better numbers but he also did so for the nation's top-rated pass defense based on Opponent Average Team Passer Rating.

It's fine if you think Downs and Starks are both going to eventually better NFL prospects than Watts, but college football isn't played with the NFL in mind. It's played to win college football games as they are and Watts did a better job at helping his team do exactly that than either Downs or Starks in 2024.

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This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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