'14 TX DB Nick Watkins (Notre Dame Signee)

[Cpnd1]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> HC Brian Kelly met with 4-star CB commit Nick Watkins in Dallas Sunday. Kicks off big week before NSD ($): <a href="http://t.co/uzLINSo8tf">http://t.co/uzLINSo8tf</a></p>— Jake Brown (@Jake_Brown) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jake_Brown/statuses/427673553014497280">January 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
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sorry for the scary bump.

 

[GBdomer]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NotreDame&src=hash">#NotreDame</a> HC Brian Kelly met with 4-star CB commit Nick Watkins in Dallas Sunday. Kicks off big week before NSD ($): <a href="http://t.co/uzLINSo8tf">http://t.co/uzLINSo8tf</a></p>— Jake Brown (@Jake_Brown) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jake_Brown/statuses/427673553014497280">January 27, 2014</a></blockquote>
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sorry for the scary bump.

Nothing cool just met with BK and BVG

 

[Irishman77]

Bueller ? What time is he announcing?

 

[GBdomer]

Bueller ? What time is he announcing?

Only 9 AM.

 

[BeauBenken]

Signed.

 

[ulukinatme]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Go Irish! &#55356;&#57152;</p>— #NotreJuice. - N.C.W (@WhippinTheNick_) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhippinTheNick_/statuses/431081708926951424">February 5, 2014</a></blockquote>
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[Cackalacky]

Yes.

 

[Irish#1]

 

[Irishman77]

Stellar!

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Awesome! Love this guy!

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Little bit of help we need!

Ádh mór! Téigh Gaeilge, Agus Mhuire go deo!

 

[ulukinatme]

According to the coaches he says he's going to be the next Keivarae Russell. Sounds good to me:

WatchND.tv

Sounds like he follows Notre Dame pretty well too if he was familiar with the kind of impact Keivarae's made the last two years.

 

[IrishLion]

BK compared him to a round 1 draft pick if NSD was draft day. That sounds nice.

 

[ThePiombino]

According to the coaches he says he's going to be the next Keivarae Russell. Sounds good to me:

WatchND.tv

Sounds like he follows Notre Dame pretty well too if he was familiar with the kind of impact Keivarae's made the last two years.

So he'll be starting at RB by week 1. Sweet.

 

[clashmore_mike]

This is pretty cool of the staff...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"We just get ready!" &#55356;&#57152; <a href="http://t.co/ISpTNk8hWH">pic.twitter.com/ISpTNk8hWH</a></p>— #NotreJuice. - N.C.W (@WhippinTheNick_) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhippinTheNick_/statuses/450790438195052544">April 1, 2014</a></blockquote>
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[Cackalacky]

Nicholas C. Watkins | ask.fm/NicholasCW6
Nick is funny.

 

[Irish#1]

Nicholas C. Watkins | ask.fm/NicholasCW6
Nick is funny.

"Learn how to spell". lol

 

[NCND]

Will wear #19

 

[CoachB]

Will wear #19

Noooooooo!

 

[ThePiombino]

Will wear #19

He gone.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Will wear #19

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[Luckylucci]

He's really good.

 

[fightingirish26]

Been musing on this thought for a little while. I remember seeing somewhere that nick was described as very good in zone coverage. Coupled with his length, he seems like the prototypical diaco-era cornerback. Dare I say, the staff may have viewed him as a sort of 5 star when diaco was still here.

Now that BVG is here, it appears as though the corners will be expected to play a lot of man coverage. Watkins has okay speed, but he is more suited to be a zone corner than a man corner (IMO).

What I'm asking is, does anybody think that Watkins' value diminishes with the new scheme? I had sky high expectations for him, should they be tempered? Is him moving to safety a possibility? Or am I over thinking, and the staff will do their job and develop him into a high quality player? Thoughts?

 

[NDdomer2]

Man to man is only top end speed on 1-2 routes. Hip flexibility and quickness are more important to me. Watkins should be just fine IMO.

 

[ResLife Hero]

Been musing on this thought for a little while. I remember seeing somewhere that nick was described as very good in zone coverage. Coupled with his length, he seems like the prototypical diaco-era cornerback. Dare I say, the staff may have viewed him as a sort of 5 star when diaco was still here.

Now that BVG is here, it appears as though the corners will be expected to play a lot of man coverage. Watkins has okay speed, but he is more suited to be a zone corner than a man corner (IMO).

What I'm asking is, does anybody think that Watkins' value diminishes with the new scheme? I had sky high expectations for him, should they be tempered? Is him moving to safety a possibility? Or am I over thinking, and the staff will do their job and develop him into a high quality player? Thoughts?

I think Watkins will excel in BVG's scheme honestly. He's big enough to really jam receivers, which will help any speed advantage a WR might have. I also think his speed is underrated. His HS team doesn't play many of the big teams in TX so he may not look as blazing fast on film (the receivers aren't all 4.4 guys), but he dominates them, and he did very well in camp settings IIRC.

He has the flexibility to play S or CB IMO, but I like him and Luke on opposite sides of the field.

 

[Luckylucci]

Been musing on this thought for a little while. I remember seeing somewhere that nick was described as very good in zone coverage. Coupled with his length, he seems like the prototypical diaco-era cornerback. Dare I say, the staff may have viewed him as a sort of 5 star when diaco was still here.

Now that BVG is here, it appears as though the corners will be expected to play a lot of man coverage. Watkins has okay speed, but he is more suited to be a zone corner than a man corner (IMO).

What I'm asking is, does anybody think that Watkins' value diminishes with the new scheme? I had sky high expectations for him, should they be tempered? Is him moving to safety a possibility? Or am I over thinking, and the staff will do their job and develop him into a high quality player? Thoughts?

This situation will arise with some players but not Nick. He's a very good CB. I think your over thinking it. Just because your a good zone scheme CB doesn't mean that you can't play man/press well. Look at KR, he was moved to CB for Diaco's system but will be exceptional still in BVG's system. A good CB in a zone scheme will get to showcase how good he is in BVG's. Nick will need to add some weight and strength but I'm very high on what he'll be able to do in any scheme.

 

[IrishLax]

]I think Watkins will excel in BVG's scheme honestly. He's big enough to really jam receivers, which will help any speed advantage a WR might have. I also think his speed is underrated.[/B] His HS team doesn't play many of the big teams in TX so he may not look as blazing fast on film (the receivers aren't all 4.4 guys), but he dominates them, and he did very well in camp settings IIRC.

He has the flexibility to play S or CB IMO, but I like him and Luke on opposite sides of the field.

Yeah, I think he's going to be great. People weren't wowed by him at the Under Armour practices/game saying things like "well, he doesn't have.." and "well, he does everything good but..."

He has great size, but lacks the jaw dropping quickness and athleticism of an Adoree Jackson or the like. I think this causes him to be undervalued. The Seahawks have made a killing on big CBs with "meh" speed. Richard Sherman is NOT fast. Brandon Browner is NOT fast.

Nick isn't as big as these guys and it's stupid to make any kind of comparison, but suffice to say he has more than adequate speed and fluidity to cover man-to-man. And because of all the "meh" people are under appreciating his value as a complete package. He has no weaknesses in his physical abilities... he is great-to-adequate in every aspect of a CB prospect, whereas someone like Crawford would have a glaring weakness in size that he has to overcome with different superior traits.

 

[ResLife Hero]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> ND A to Z: Nick Watkins - Sophomore cornerback Nick Watkins is poised – and prepared – to play a... <a href="http://t.co/e5b9bd4M54">http://t.co/e5b9bd4M54</a></p>— Notre Dame on Scout (@NDonScout) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDonScout/status/616278507132452864">July 1, 2015</a></blockquote>
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[NDWorld247]

Played really well in his 1st career start today. He's going to be a player for us moving forward.

 

[arrowryan]

Yeah. This was literally the only bright spot out of the game. He set himself up to be in a good spot on the depth chart in the spring. Cole Luke and an experienced Nick Watkins sounds pretty good