Instant Reaction: Nick Watkins Transferring

“How are they going to get down to 85?”

Maybe this will be the time that everyone stops asking that. It never is an issue and it won't be again this year now that Notre Dame is losing another graduate transfer in Nick Watkins. 

He was going to play and a play a lot. Watkins had a terrific spring after finally becoming a starter for the majority of last season.

It looked like Troy Pride was continuing above him on the depth chart and Watkins was not going to jump 2nd team All-American Julian Love. If things stay the way they are, it’s understandable that he would want to go somewhere to have a clear path to start.

Despite the depth they have at the position, losing a quality corner is a blow the defense. They’ll be fine with numbers the position, but this bumps everyone up a notch higher than they would have been.

Shaun Crawford and Donte Vaughn are going to step up quite a bit. This also might open the door for freshman Houston Griffith to move back to corner. I don’t think it will happen and I think he has a chance to contribute more at safety this season even with Watkins leaving, but it’s a possibility.

This also means incoming freshman Noah Boykin, Joe Wilkins Jr., DJ Brown, and Tariq Bracy all have a much greater shot at playing this season. It would have been unlikely before, but if they impress in the summer and early in fall camp, I would expect at least one of them to see some time. It's also far less likely that Bracy or Wilkins will end up at another position. I think they will get a long look at corner and that probably means all of 2018 at the very least.

My best guess is that Bracy would be the most ready to compete from day one out of that group.

This is a bigger loss than Jay Hayes leaving in my opinion. The Irish have the depth at the position to be able to handle it, but the others who were behind Watkins were not playing at the same level he was during the spring.