Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Three things to know about Justin Watson
By Bailey Adams
1. He DOMINATED at Penn
One of the big reasons that Justin Watson is being advertised as a “diamond in the rough” is his production at Penn. He left college as the Quakers’ all-time leader in quite a few categories. He owns the program record for career receptions (286), yards (3,777), touchdowns (33), 100-yard receiving games (nineteen) and all-purpose yards (4,116). Those nineteen 100-yard receiving games were also good enough to be an Ivy League record.
That kind of production is outrageous, but that’s not even all of it. He also owns the Ivy League record for consecutive games with a receiving touchdown (ten) and consecutive games with a reception (40). The 6-foot-3 receiver owns plenty of single-season Penn records as well. He shows up three times on the program’s list of leaders for receptions in a single-season, including a spot at No. 1 with 89 in 2016. He also has three appearances on the list of leaders for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a single season. Unsurprisingly, he has the No. 1 spot on both of those lists as well. His 1,115 yards in 2016 has him at the top, as does his touchdown mark of fourteen in 2017.
Somehow, Watson didn’t have any big scholarship offers after a successful career at South Fayette High School. He committed to Penn and stuck with that commitment even when bigger schools from the ACC and Big Ten came around. That alone speaks to his loyalty, a seemingly rare quality to find nowadays. The Bucs surely love his character, but that college production has to be mouth-watering as well.