Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts wins Bronko Nagurski trophy as nation’s top defender

Xavier Watts is the best defensive player in college football.

Notre Dame’s star safety was presented with the Bronko Nagurski trophy on Monday night in Charlotte. The 5-foot-11, 204-pound senior standout received the nation’s highest defensive honor after leading the nation with seven interceptions, along with leading the Fighting Irish defensive backs with 42 tackles.

“Everybody comes in as a freshman and expects to play, but the journey just teaches you patience and hard work,” Watts said after receiving the award. “Just keep working.”

Watts, a Nebraska native, said that with so many in-state natives growing up cheering for the Cornhuskers, he wanted to forge his own path. That led him to Notre Dame, where he started making his mark as a sophomore in 2021, with 15 tackles while becoming a consistent force on the defense.

His Irish play Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29.

The other finalists Monday night were Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean, Illinois defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton, Georgia safety Malaki Starks and N.C. State linebacker Payton Wilson.

NC State’s Wilson honored to be in consideration

As the candidates were introduced ahead of the announcement, Wilson received significantly more applause from the sold-out audience at the black-tie event inside Charlotte Convention Center. After Watts was announced the winner and began his speech, some members of the audience got up and left the room as the local star did not take home the award.

“It’s an honor to be even considered with the likes of the other guys that are here,” Wilson told The Observer before the event. “To be in the names of the greats. Your Luke Kuechlys, your Ndamokong Suhs. You know, Bradley Chubb, from N.C. State, won this, and to even be considered on the same level or category as him is out of this world.”

Wilson was hoping to become N.C. State’s first Nagurski recipient since Chubb in 2017, which was a year before he joined the program. The Hillsborough native and Orange High School alum remembers meeting Chubb during that first year and being “almost starstruck,” especially when he noticed his personality off the field.

A graduate student who’s wrapping up his sixth year with the Wolfpack, Wilson leaves an indelible mark on the program. He missed his rookie season in 2018 with a knee injury and was a first team All-ACC player by 2020. But once he appeared poised to become one of the nation’s top defenders, his 2021 season ended with a shoulder injury in Week 2.

He persevered through those two injuries and was named a semifinalist for the National Comeback Player of the Year award last fall. In his final season, Wilson’s 11.5 tackles per game rank fifth nationally and lead the ACC. His career totals ahead of N.C. State’s bowl game, the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 against Kansas State: 402 tackles, 15 sacks, 13 pass breakups, seven interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a pick-6.

The runaway ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Wilson was named the conference’s linebacker of the week a record five times. He’s led the Wolfpack in tackles in 10 of their 12 games.

The crowd included a familiar Carolina football face

Monday’s banquet, hosted by the Charlotte Touchdown Club, recognized nearly 30 years of the award, which was created in 1993. The Nagurski trophy was initially established as a complement to the Heisman, which had never been given to a defensive player at that time.

All five finalists were in attendance for the event, where TCU head coach Sonny Dykes was the keynote speaker. There were familiar football faces all over the crowd — including Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper.

As the winner, Watts succeeds former Alabama standout Will Anderson Jr. — now a linebacker for the Houston Texans — who won the award in each of the past two seasons.

Other notable past Nagurski trophy winners include Chase Young (2019, Ohio State), Aaron Donald (2013, Pittsburgh), Manti Te’o (2012, Notre Dame), Luke Kuechly (2011, Boston College), Ndamukong Suh (2009, Nebraska) and Warren Sapp (1994, Miami).

Who else was honored on Monday night in Charlotte?

• Air Force safety Trey Taylor won the Defender of the Nation, going to the best defensive player at a military academy.

• Former Clemson All-American linebacker Jeff Davis was presented with the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award.

• Hough High School coach David Baker won the High School Coach of the Year Award, which goes to a local head coach who demonstrates character, integrity, sportsmanship, responsibility and excellence on and off the field.

• Butler High School multi-sport athlete Brooklyn Saunders won the first High School Female Flag Football Student-Athlete of the Year Award.

• Marvin Ridge High four-year varsity letterman Nate Rawls, an outside linebacker, won the High School Leadership Award.

• Northwest Cabarrus quarterback Alex Walker was named High School Student-Athlete of the Year.

• Weddington tight end Brooks Mauk, who fractured both of his right tibia and fibula in 2022 and returned to become a key two-way player for the state finalist, won the Thomas Davis High School Comeback Player of the Year Award.

• Providence linebacker Billy Wilkes won the Luke Kuechly High School Defensive Player of the Year Award.

• Charlotte’s Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology won the first High School Female Flag Football Team of the Year Award.

• The Lake Norman Giants won the Pop Warner Defensive/Scholastic Team of the Year Award.