Final goal for South Fayette grad is NFL Draft
In the summer prior to his senior season at South Fayette High School, all Justin Watson wanted was an opportunity to play Division I-A football.
Despite having a very good outing with the Lions at the Pitt 7-on-7 camp, the offers didn’t come.
After catching 28 passes for 592 yards as a junior at South Fayette, Watson had a breakout senior season, snaring 63 passes for a WPIAL-record 1,568 yards and 22 touchdowns.
“I really wanted an offer from Pitt,” Watson said last week. “I figured, if I got the offer from Pitt, it would open the door for other Division I-A offers. But that didn’t happen, so I concentrated on having the best senior year I could.”
Prior to that senior season, Watson accepted an offer from Penn of the Ivy League.
It worked out well for Penn and Watson.
A 6-2, 215-pound wide receiver, Watson became a standout almost the moment he set foot on the Philadelphia campus. He caught 42 passes for 497 yards and two scores in his first season, finishing second in the Ivy League Rookie of the Year voting.
That’s when Watson, who graduates this spring from Penn’s prestigious Wharton School of Business with a degree in finance, expanded his goals.
“I knew there were two or three guys every year coming out of the Ivy League who would get a chance in the NFL, and when I finished second in the Rookie of Year voting, I figured, why not me? As a freshman, I’m the second guy right now,” Watson said. “I didn’t tell anyone at that time, but making the NFL became my goal.”
Justin Watson
That goal is now in sight as Watson has a legitimate chance to be selected in the NFL Draft, which will be held April 26-28. Watson’s goal is to become the first South Fayette player drafted by an NFL team since Jonathan Hayes was taken in the second round of the 1985 draft out of Iowa.
Watson also would become the first Penn player drafted since 2002.
He continued to work toward that goal, honing his skills at every chance, even if it meant passing on summer internships in New York and other things typical college students do.
Watson had the first of three-straight 1,000-yard seasons as a sophomore, helping Penn to an Ivy League title with 74 catches for 1,082 yards and nine scores.
By the time he was done wrecking the Ivy League, Watson had set school records for receptions (286), receiving yards (3,777), receiving touchdowns (33) and all-purpose yards (4,116). That gave Watson got the attention he wanted. He received an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game in January, and though he caught just one pass for one yard, he performed well enough in practice to get an invitation to an even bigger college all-star game, the Senior Bowl.
“That was a dream come true,” said Watson, who caught one pass for 34 yards in the game. “I had watched that game since I was a kid. To be able to go there and work with and against the players there was really cool. I went down there hungry. I was going to compete as hard as I could.”
Watson hoped playing in those all-star games would add to an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February. But that didn’t happen.
He channeled that hunger into his on-campus workout in mid-March at his pro day on the campus of Temple University. It was yet another test he would ace, but not without a little help.
He had one of Penn’s former quarterbacks lined up to throw to him, but he was signed to an NFL futures contract. Watson tried some other quarterbacks, but those fell through, as well.
Another option was recommended. Watson contacted California University’s Mike Keir, a Philadelphia native, and he agreed to work with the receiver for the pro day. Though they only had one day of workouts prior to the pro day, the ball never hit the ground. And Watson, who had been working out in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for two months, hit all his personal goals. You want a good 40-yard dash time? He clocked in at 4.42 seconds, with some teams showing him running in the 4.3s.
He also had a 40-inch vertical jump.
Only three receivers at the NFL combine were faster. Only one other receiver, LSU’s D.J. Chark, also had a vertical leap of 40 inches.
“I hit all of my goals,” Watson said. “Jumping 40 was a big goal of mine.”
It certainly got the attention of the scouts.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, one scout was overheard saying, “He might have just put himself in the top four rounds.”
Whether that happens or not remains to be seen. But Watson has been busy visiting NFL teams. He’s had nine scheduled and visited the Green Bay Packers late last week.
But the highlight came Easter weekend when he was asked to come to the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex to meet with members of the Steelers’ front office.
“I grew up a Steelers fan, wearing my Steelers jersey to church on Sundays,” he said. “It was pretty surreal. It was like a regular job interview, but I’m watching film and talking football with Coach (Mike) Tomlin.”
Watson’s journey in football has taught him not to fret about things that are out of his hands.
“Control what you can control,” he said of what he’s learned from the process. “I had a good senior year and got invited to the East-West Shrine Game. And from there, I got invited to the Senior Bowl. That didn’t get me an invitation to the combine, but that was out of my control. I did everything I could.”
It’s something he learned from head coach Joe Rossi at South Fayette.
“I owe a ton to coach Rossi’s program,” he said. “We ran a college-style offense, which prepared me for Penn. When I got there, I was used to the no-huddle offense and able to do it early. And the two things he always preached were that you needed to bring two things to practice each day – good effort and a positive attitude. You have those two things and everything else will take care of itself.”
That’s good advice. And with a little good fortune, it will keep Watson from using his finance degree – he’s completed this semester via online courses – any time soon.
“I fell in love with Penn from the first time I visited, played for four years and won two championships there,” Watson said. “I wouldn’t trade my time at Penn for anything. But I’m hoping to not have to use that degree for a long time. I want to use it after a long career in the NFL. Maybe I’ll go to work in a team’s front office.”