All-American twice Xavier Watts Shared a video of 67 seconds goodbye on social networks this weekend which highlighted a handful of the 970 Snaps on the defense that the security of Notre-Dame was recorded during the 2024 season, including the series of playoff of university football.
It is more games that any Irish defender submitted his body since Pro Football Focus began to trace Snap accounts for all FBS teams in 2014, and more than each defensive university football player last season, except for the Texas cornerback Jahdae Barronwho played one more snap.
If Watts had been elected to the collection in his conviction coded for a sixth year of university football, his climb on the menu of Notre Dame de 15 Spring Training – whose format and sequence were strongly influenced by the science of sport and an unusual Easter weekend – would have been very different from last spring, when he came out of a season when he led all the Irish defenders 708 snaps.
As it stands, the heavy workload in an unprecedented season of 16 games and an eye on the science of sport, prompted Watts to ignore the NFL scouting’s scouting games are combined just over a week ago and to postpone towards the professional day of Notre-Dame, which itself was postponed to an annual date to give all its performance of the NFL.
The real draft of the NFL is from April 24 to 26 in Green Bay, Wis.
Only tight Mitchell EvansAmong the eight handsets of ND, carried out both in positional training sessions and tests Like the dashboard of 40 yards, the vertical jump and the wide jump.
Regarding Irish players who return and start the spring training on March 19, the only community given among what their spring is like is the start date, the date of the traditional spring conclusion – the annual blue game on April 12 – and the rarity of Notre -Dame featuring several practices this spring after the blue game to get the game of Blue -Gold Compression of too much the window to adapt to these.
It can be, as a chief trainer Marcus Freeman Likes to say, the Glory team, but going to the Glory team means a lot of individualization in the spring – not only depending on the workload. Not only by the position group. Not only in a position group.
“We have examined not only our data in sports performance, but also conversations with coaches on what they believe that priorities are,” said the deputy sports director of sports performance John Wagle said at a meeting with the media last week. “And learn what these players really need to reach their full potential.
“And we take all these things together, and we develop an individual development plan for each guy.”
Wagle is only one of the faces of what Freeman of Notre-Dame Football looks like in sport science under the fourth year that the head coach Freeman. Director of football performance Loren Landow is probably the most visible and spoken, as he presides over the strength and packaging program.
But there is also the associate director of sports nutrition Alexa Appelmanteam doctor Dr Matt Leiszler – who, among other things, helps to minimize the risk of concussion of players, the athletic coach of football Rob Hunt and the director of the sports psychology program Joey Ramaekeramong others.
“He (Ramaeker), of course, gives excellent clinical care out of the field,” said Wagle, “but he modernized our approach to sport psychology. It uses the latest technologies to help our guys perform in the biggest moments. »»
Great moments that included four playoffs that led to a 34-23 defeat against Ohio State on January 20 during the CFP national championship match in Atlanta.
“We are so much proud of the way we have evolved through these university football playoffs,” said Wagle, “but perhaps what we have not seen is how our sports performance team also had an impact on this trip. And we are just as proud of what happened on the field as what happened.
“And this group force is really their commitment to collaboration. It is their commitment to work together. They really believe that their success is linked and that they can amplify their impact by meeting this way.
“And it appears in different ways, very frankly. Thus, we have a really precise approach to how we conceive practices, and this is led by Marcus, but it is increased by our data. »»
The way it happened during winter training was that those who started nine of the 13 first -year -old students registered by Notre Dame and her six arrival transfers in January before ND finished his race in the playoffs.
Then, the departure dates of the winter training of the players were launched by those who needed more recovery time due to heavier workloads during the regular season and the playoffs. And the four Ultra-au inscriptions beginning of Our Lady, who helped the team prepare for its last three qualifying games, started later than the other mid-year registered.
“We will continue to narrow this funnel for each individual player,” said Wagle about the approach to the practice of spring, “and somehow somehow the dials of what the accent – or its absence – is for each guy.”
Traditionally, Notre Dame had a List of players missing spring football All together due to injuries and / or rehabilitation and recovery of surgery, and another group with a limited / modified activity for the same reasons.
This spring, there will be another group than Hunt, during its Thursday press conference, would have designed a few breaks related to contact or running in spring practices, based on significant roles / counts last season.
This group includes OT Aamil WagnerKg Drayk BowenS Adon ShulerCB Christian grayCB Leonard MooreOf Bryce YoungWR Jaden GreathouseOf Joshua BurnhamRb Jeremiyah Loveand lb Jaylen Sneed.
Love, the main rusher of ND in 2024, played a 465 manageable snaps – more than 2023 starting the ball carrier Audric estimate done in 12 games in 2023 (388) but much less than Kyren Williams’ 606 in 2021.
But love had to face three precipitated defenses classified in the top 10 at the national level during the four qualifying games as well as a physical team from Georgia, and to do so while returning from a knee injury that he suffered in the final of the regular season of November 30 against the USC.
“It was not surgical. He was never considered surgical, “said coach Rob Hunt. “It was an injury which, certainly, the moment is frustrating. If he had not had the little choice during the Georgia match, it would probably have been less – not theatrical but just more emotion attached to it.
“We also had time there, which was in our favor. We had 20 before the Indiana match (December 20) which served us very well. This allowed us to pass it for 10 days. Then we had an increase of five days, then five days of preparation for this IU game. But surgery was not a song.
“Then, how can we do enough work?” John talked about the development of practice and practice structures as we cross with each individual player. How much does he need to be healthy? So how much should it be prepared?
“As a good athlete as Jeremiyah, you still have to train. You must always get the representatives and the work to be able to do so. It was the balance of the challenge of doing enough work to be able to cross it.
“Then being able to tolerate it. Being able to tolerate the less than optimal state of what you feel and always at the highest level against exceptional competition. »»
Tackle Aamil Wagner in attack actually played three additional shots that Watts in 2024 and more than 200 more than the offensive line player Pat Coogan Total of the team head of 769 in 2023, but not much more than some Irish players when the violations at high temperature were more common and the rules of the college concerning the clock stops were different.
Offensive lines Steve Elmer And Nick Martin, For example, everyone played 966 snaps in 2014 and in the center Sam Mustipher Played 956 in 2018.
But it is not only a question of counting snapshots, because not all snaps are created equal.
“The clichés count,” said Wagle, “because each cliché is at least twinned with a decision made by this player. And more often than not, a collision event or a sprint effort or something like that. But we look a little more deeply in this.
“A player like Xavier, with his number of snaps, he tends to involve a lot of coverage, because he was elite there, compared to certain other players who are only in different roles.
“That each cliché is a starting point for us, and it is significant, but we must dive more deep into the context of what these shots are.”
And dive into injury prevention and dive into what may have been wrong when there is a tendency to injuries. But at the same time, there is a balance to give Freeman time and resources to practice quite often, intense enough, intense enough to assemble a team that has the chance to win a national title in January.
“From our goal in sports performances, we are very cautious there that the objective of practicing football is not not to injure yourself or something auxiliary,” said Wagle. “The goal of practicing football is to improve our team and prepare for football in the fall.
“And therefore, we take every day of training which we have offered ourselves very seriously, because of this development opportunity and the opportunity to develop this team in what Marcus plans that this can be next fall.”
The Irish -14-2 in 2024 and n ° 2 in the last surveys -open the 2025 season on August 31 in Miami.
“Our role is really to maximize these opportunities for our coaches,” continued Wagle. “We have the best coaches in the world, and therefore our approach is:” Well, let’s discover the way we can get the most football while individualizing the development process of players and perhaps focusing on other areas which, downstream, if we adopt a longer-term approach, we will actually produce a better version of this player. “” ”