Notre Dame Football: Former Irish offensive lineman Chris Watt joins staff as a GA

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finally made the hires of Mike Mickens and John McNulty official this week, but they aren’t finished with new additions to its staff.

According to Matt Fortuna from The Athletic and The Shamrock, Notre Dame will add former offensive guard Chris Watt to the staff as a graduate assistant.

Watt was part of Charlie Weis’s last recruiting class at Notre Dame in 2009 and went on to become a three year starter at guard for the Irish from 2011-2013 under Brian Kelly. Watt was an important part of the Notre Dame offense and played with Irish offensive coordinator and former quarterback Tommy Rees (among others during that time). He was the recipient of the Pietrosante Award as a senior and went on to get drafted by the Chargers in the 3rd round of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Injuries eventually derailed Watt’s NFL career which ended in 2017 with the New Orleans Saints.

While some may use this as another example of “Kelly Kronyism,” it actually is more indicative of Brian Kelly’s long reign at Notre Dame and the quality of players that have played under the Golden Dome. This is a grad assistant position, so his exact role isn’t clearly defined — but we can imagine that the offensive line will receive a lot of help from him.

Spring ball starts tomorrow y’all. Get ready.