BROOKLINE – Seconds before putting on the hat and revealing a Wisconsin t-shirt during his commitment announcement on Monday afternoon inside the Dexter Southfield Athletic Complex, ‘Jump Around’ began to play as Watts’ teammates went crazy.
Fittingly, it’s what most of the Badgers’ fan base was doing on social media too.
The top-ranked recruit in Massachusetts by Rivals for the 2025 class is heading to Madison and it feels like a perfect fit.
Watts technically had 28 offers, but was highly coveted by pretty much every Division 1 school in the country. In the end, it came down to Michigan, Clemson and Wisconsin.
“To be honest, it wasn’t that hard for me,” Watts said after posing for photos with his teammates, family and friends when asked how hard the process was. “I kind of had a gut feeling and I stuck with it. I knew Wisconsin was home…just the guys in that room. The mentality they bring every day, how they train and go about their day. The brotherhood mentality that I’ll be entering into.”
For Watts, getting the announcement and decision out of the way now was important. Not only can he celebrate over 4th of July weekend now, but he can lock in on making one more special run with what should be a very, very good Dexter Southfield team this season.
“It was very important to me,” Watts added. “Now, I’m 100% locked in, just getting better, training every day. I have a lot to take this season and same with the team…I’m going to attack it like every season I have. Finish my blocks, make sure the guys are getting to their right assignments and just being a leader to the team. It’s something I’ve looked forward to for years. This will be – after all of it – my 13th year here.
“So, I’m just really excited to lead this team to some greatness.”
Watts’ head coach Casey Day was obviously thrilled for his superstar offensive lineman, but in the big picture, the attention on the program is the biggest benefit of having a high profile recruit.
“I think we’re lucky. We get to coach a group of kids that love football and who love working hard every day in practice,” said Day. “Most importantly, they’re all great kids and they’re all kids that we want our own kids to be around.”
This wasn’t the first or last major recruiting announcement for Dexter Southfield, but Watts hopes his special day can show younger players just how far you can go if you commit to the program and everything that becoming a star D1 athlete entails.
“I’m certainly not the first and I know I’m not going to be the last, we have a great group of young guys in the locker room that are going to do great things,” Watts added. “Yes, this is my moment now, but next year, it’ll be Anthony Hall, the year after it’ll be someone new.
“Dexter has a great tradition of developing guys into college caliber and hopefully someday pro athletes, so, this is great for me, but I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
(Full interview with Watts is here)
