Jordan Watkins is the most Underrated Player on the Ole Miss Roster | Ole Miss Rebels Podcast

Jordan Watkins is the most underrated player on Miss's roster seriously you are locked on Old Miss your daily podcast on the Old Miss Rebels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hi I'm Steven Willis a former staff member at Old Miss and a 10-year veteran member of the national media with Yahoo sports today on the show we talk about theas roster and why this player is so underrated he can't even get love on underrated list this talking season Jordan Watkins has been Jordan Jackson darts Mr reliable over the last year but with Theus receiver unit getting better Watkins is somehow falling between the cushions when it comes to giving credit this preseason and this official visit weekend is two out of state prospects that's getting our attention they're joining Mario now this weekend as players that I am watching this is the lockon Omas podcast your daily podcast on the Omas Rebels part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day we're free and available in all the podcast apps and on YouTube thank you for making the locked onas podcast your first listen every day and a special ow to the every dayers who make the show what it is July 2nd under a month from right now at 7 pm central time you can join us at wons and Ridin m Mississippi for a meet and greet it's not super organized it's just kind of a meetting place to get there but maybe you can get some red beans and rice maybe you get some Budan and of course the beer is pretty good at Walk-Ons as well it's sure to be a lot of fun it's a chance to grow the loom Community I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and also the Rebel Road Trip sponsored by dead soxy will be in Corinth Mississippi June 13th at 6 central time at the crossroads Arena there's still time also to join the Grove Collective and help is football become Elite you can go to the Grove collective.com and join today really interesting stuff indeed and this is you know our what did we learn episode and we are in the middle of talking season and in talking season you find out you know they do stories about insert storyline it's like Mad Libs this this and this and this week there's been a couple of articles that I've seen um about the most underrated players on Old Miss Roster and honestly it's a pretty good list when you look at it even the one with um The Grove report our our partners our friends that the Grove report put out um it it really is interesting to see but their list goes like this okay they start with Kaden Lee he said he was a big play threat for the rebels last season as soon as he stepped on campus in 2023 his first colleg reception was a 34 yard touchdown in week one against Mercer while his touchdown was in garbage time of a game that was pretty out of hand Le flashed the rest of the Freshman season was quiet until he was called upon in the Peach Bowl because of a Jordan Watkins hand injury Le at the game with three receptions for 29 yards not an eye popping stat line but he looked like he belonged against one of the better secondaries in the country keep an eye out for Lee as he could be a guy that finds it on the field and he won't give the spot back that's one thing the next one they did was a Kell Stone said Stone was another key depth piece on this revamp defensive line in 2023 Stone had two and a half sacks from his D tackled spot and was a big rotational piece for guys like JJ piggee aell is going to be called upon once again in 2024 to be a rotational guy for the rebels as his abilities to give other guys rest will keep the defensive line fresh and cim Franklin at defensive end the edge rusher from Lake corant fits the mold of a big-time SEC player that possesses speed and strength in Spring practice Franklin uses athleticism and oneon-one drills and best a f rush and all of that but he has the potential to flash in the future with the right development Randall Joiner is probably licking his chops at what his defensive line and potential for the younger players to look like with guys like Jared Ivy and Prince Liam M Ellen ahead of him prank Franklin can learn from the likes of very successful pass rushers now really inter stuff and that's a very good list from our friends over at the Grove report and where they're sitting with underrated players but here is the problem both Kaden Lee and cam Franklin and a Kell Stone all play positions that is just going to be hard to get on the field you can be a really good really talented player that flashes when you get on the field but you're not going to play all of that much because of the players that got added in I argue that the underrated player position has changed a little bit whenever you look at for instance like you have Trey Harris on campus who is obviously going to be the number one option at Wide Receiver right Dion Smith who is obviously going to be one of the top options at wide receiver when you have juice Wells Who coming into last season was preseason the best wide receiver in the Southeastern Conference do you see what I'm getting at I think the most underrated player on Miss Roster is none other than Jordan Watkins who had 53 catches 741 yards and three touchdowns a year ago he played four games with a broken hand he returned punt with a Contraption over his hand to prevent v a broken bone from getting worse nobody is talking about Jordan Watkins he was simply last year's Mr reliable for Jackson Dart he is the player that whenever Miss needed a first down when they had to have a completion Jordan Watkins was the player they looked to now a lot of that was due to the Trey Harris getting double teamed on those position to make sure he wasn't the guy but Watkins was clearly the SE second option and he was unbelievably reliable so reliable in fact in the game against Louisiana Monroe that Jackson Dart was a little bit injured in Jordan Watkins actually played wide receiver with the broken hand and dropped a deep pass that hit him hit him between the numbers and everybody was shocked he had a broken hand there all of the excuses for why that happened was there but everybody was shocked nonetheless but when you add him to a room that is has Trey Harris juice Wells and Dion Smith all of a sudden Jordan Watkins kind of becomes maybe the fourth option but his ability to play inside and outside because that is a strength that Jordan Watkins has is going to be important for this team there are going to be times in the year when Jordan Watkins looks a lot like what Dayton Wade did a year ago where you're playing on on the outside but doing your work over the middle and doing all the slot type stuff even though you're lining up on the outside initially Miss over the last couple of years in this offense they've kind of tweaked it to the point where they're playing dual slots even though it's 11 personnel they're playing dual slots where a lot of time the tight end and their jumbo wide receiver or the outside receivers but it doesn't necessarily matter where you start the play it where it's where you end it and Jordan Watkins and Dayton Wade have done a lot of damage over the last couple of years but nobody's talking about Jordan Watkins Jordan Watkins coming in this year and this I'm including myself in this by the way I am more than including myself because I do think that juice Wells has a chance to be the starting slot coming into this season I think it's going to be important for Jordan Watkins to essentially cross train as much as possible so he can find himself on the field because he is that reliable receiver he is somebody whose production does not match his attention and you constantly forget about Jordan Watkins as the player because of these new players that are coming in the trey harrises the juice Wells the Dion Smiths you know even Kaden Lee who is a really good player and I do think he is an underrated player but Kaden Lee is going to have a hard time getting over Jordan watk to the field much less getting over Jordan Watkins and Juice Wells so the underrated player in my opinion is Jordan Watkins Mr reliable somebody that has a unbelievable rapport with Jackson Dart because of how the depth chart looks now if Miss goes and does what it's we are all expecting it to do okay that means the offensive line just like I told you yesterday really Bal out and made the RPO game very effective on missing their dual slot game with juice Wells and potentially Jordan Watkins them moving back and forth in Personnel grouping and formation all of the sudden Jordan Watkins juice Wells has a big time type season maybe 60 70 catches would be a D um Jordan Watkins successful season now Watkins returning punts yes that's absolutely going to happen Jordan Watkins has all of the confidence of the special teams coach Lane King the whole nine yards Jordan Watkins is going to be the one back there returning kicks this season you're not returning you're not recruiting people to return kicks you're not bringing in the player from Southern Illinois or the player from um the other one that they brought in the wide receiver last week I slipped my mind um from Texas North Texas you're not bringing them in as a returner Jordan Watkins is going to return punts this year and he's going to do it at a very high level but for those of you that are constantly worried about how something could go wrong in the return game Jordan Watkins may not be a starter on the field at wide receiver now he's going to be super important to everything Omas does but there is no guarantee that Jordan Watkins is going to beat out juice Wells there's no guarantee that he's gonna be out doing um Deion Smith and you know he's not beating out Trey Harris but his production and his ability to get on the field and him being reliable to Lan kein and Theus coaching staff means that the potential for this player to have an underrated level of importance for this Miss football team is there thanks again for making lock on miss your first listen of the day Miss is getting top two wide receiver room love National and Jordan Watkins is consistently getting overlooked by everyone like we just talked about but it's continuing over and over again passion drive and patience what the formula is for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlight and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered and with over 122 million parts for your number one Rider die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay's guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your Rider live at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay's guaranteed fit is only available to us customers are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day and you have to turn down the volume with all of that shouting make the switch to lock on sports today it is a free 247 sports streaming Channel program for you each and every single day to bring you the biggest stories without all of that screaming locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis opinions news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every single day now it's really interesting like I said most criminally underrated player on Old Mrs Roster and maybe in the entire southeastern conference is Jordan Watkins I I would entertain that conversation that Jordan Watkins might be the most underrated player in all of the SEC but the reason for that is the talent that is going to surround Jordan Watkins this year Jordan Watkins gets lost and looked over and everything because of the talent that is going to be on the field for ol miss this season you know and it starts with Trey Harris okay Trey Harris last year 54 catches 985 yards and eight touchdowns when he essentially missed three games last season so this is like nine games 10 games GES worth of data if he would have played the full season if he would not have gotten hurt on the first drive against two lane he would have probably had somewhere in the neighborhood of 65 to 70 catches about 12200 yards and about 8 to 12 touchdown somewhere in there that would have happened and because of that he sucks up all the oxygen that Jordan Watkins would receive now miss also is got getting a signing a transfer you might say in Deon Smith from homes County Community College he was the number one wide receiver jco wide receiver out there he is not showing up on these top two top five list that you're seeing everywhere he is not showing up yet he is not being factored in and that's the reason that I say that om Miss has the best wide receiver room in the entire country and there's juice Wells who last year at this time was being viewed as the number one wide receiver in the entire of the SEC had 68 catches 928 six touchdowns probably the best run after catch wide receiver in the entire Southeastern Conference even over Luther Burton really really good player so whenever you look at Jordan Watkins and what he has done and what he has done this play right here in the picture that I put up there on the screen right now it was a fourth and two and even with a broken hand by Jordan Watkins it was still a simple outplay for Jordan Jordan Watkins to get almost picked up the first down ended up scoring a touchdown winning the egg ball and he is an important player for Jackson Dart he he is an important player for Jackson Dart who last season was 233 for 358 3364 yards 23 touchdowns five interceptions now with the added size being added on the outside in Deion Smith over a Dayton Wade I figure those touchdown numbers are going to go up fairly significant you might be looking at 30 to 35 touchdowns for Jackson Dart this year but the reason I bring up this and all of this happening is there's top five list from Lindy's and and from the Pro Football Focus and wide receiver rooms and units that are being released andas is pretty consistently being ranked second if you look at Lindy's they're ranked second behind Ohio State if you look at Pro Football Focus it's this second behind behind the Oregon Ducks as far as top receiving cores in college football which tells you one thing Oregon Ohio State and Old Miss they're interchangeable as they are and like I told you before and all the writeups in these unit Dion Smith is not being factored in and I think that a lot of people are going to be very surprised at what they see in Deon Smith now I'm talking right now about all the receivers in the Miss receiving room and how Miss is getting love in that receiving room right now and again you immediately start talking and Jordan Watkins get pushed down down down is is he is criminally underrated on Miss's roster and in the SEC Jordan Watkins I think is going to play a major role inma football this season he is it it it may be a situation to where they play more than four wide receivers over the course of a game because that was Old Miss thing is like they wanted all the depth in the world but they were going going to play the four or five guys that they could count on like brayan brown never got on the field for Miss football for whatever reason when he did he made plays apparently there was Bust or something in practice because we talk all the time about how Lane kein and Charlie W Jr they do not believe in OJT they they will not let you go out there and make mistakes they need to trust you implicitly so you can run some of the stuff that they're doing because omas's offense is simple yet complex and this is very um weird for you to hear probably but it's simple because it has to be because of how fast they go they need to make it as simple as possible so the plays can get in there you're running a ton of inside zones they're passing comp concepts are what it is but 10% of the time Lane kein has to be able to whistle and set make a call and a quick change on the sideline to where some sort of complex play happens instantly so you have to know how to do that so you have to Quick twitch remember all of the simple stuff that they do the inside zones the quick passing Concepts the rpos but occasionally 10% of the time Lane kein is going to whistle in and he's going to need you to do something that is NFL concept wise he is going to need you to be able to handle that because the free safety is leaning a certain direction or the linebacker is biting up way too hard on the fake leaving too much of a pad between the backers and the safeties something to attack the specific area that L kein is trying to attack you have to be able to do 90% of the time it doesn't matter it's simple repetitive stuff that you just need to go really fast and execute it high level but they do need to be able to count on the wide receiver or the running back or the quarterback that when Lane kein notices something he can quickly get that in and get them to that to where their Tempo isn't blown up it's important simple but complex and because of that the wide receiver has not played many people like um I I forget the little guy's name um the wide receiver Henry short guy very fast one he had a very excellent camp in 2022 ended up getting a lot of playing time to start the season dropped a couple of touchdown passes and if you drop a touchdown pass they're not going to play you you are not going to be on the field if you drop a touchdown pass they have no sympathy for that and part of that reason is why Miss has such good wide receivers year in and year out is the expectations that are placed on there Jordan Watkins is just another example of that and now because of all this other talent that has come in he is the most underrated player on Miss's roster perhaps the entire sec thanks again for making the lockdown on Miss podcast your first listen this is official visit month it's underway and two out ofate prospects to join Mario Nash has my attention I'll tell you about it next next lockdown has launched the first ever National Sports 24/7 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it's also available on Amazon free our Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app lockdown sports today is here for you 24/7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockedown plus our national shows that cover each and every single League finally Lo on sports today available now on the free Fire TV channels app be part of History so we are in the middle of official visit month and part of the official visit month is Mario Nash will be visiting Old Miss this weekend Mario Nash is a big-time player we talked with Brian Smith in tonight's show so turn into that he's going to talk a little bit about Mario Nash he's going to talk a little bit about Winston Watkins as well Bri Smith the for of footb Scout talking about um Winston Watkins from Fort Meers Florida is pretty much in must and listen he's probably one of the better analyst out there on him um but he's joining Watkins is Carson Lawrence from McCaul the mall School in Chattanooga Tennessee visiting Old Miss and Carson Lawrence is a Vanderbuilt commit Yes you heard me correctas is trying to flip a Vanderbilt commit now if you look at the ranking they're really all over the place and you see that more this year than you have in recent memory rankings kind of being all over the place and everybody trying to look like the smartest person in the room but if you look at the consensus he's a four star and he is ranked 163 on the on three now it could be on three doing a favor for the boy Barton Simmons who's um one of the recruiting guys at Vanderbilt but he is a really good player and he obviously has Peete golding's attention they're bringing him in on an official visit he's a safety you're seeing a lot of safeties getting recruited by Pete Golding now the last couple of years whenever they're coming in they're finding Corners that could run and trans transitioning them to safety the John Saunders the Jaden kennedies those guys yam Banks um are Corners that can run that's being asked to play safety but now you see him P Golding actually recruit safeties that can do specific things so you can get the height and the weight that you're looking for and I think that um Carson Lawrence is going to be a really good player now the other player that we're watching for is Winston Watkins and Winston Watkins is out of Fort Meyer I talked to Brian Smith he's 5 foot n 510 175 pounds he kind of does the Elijah Moore thing he kind of does the typical slot receiver Kaden Lee would be a good comp for Winston Watkins as well if you look at his rankings like he is a consensus fourstar 177 in the country he is decommitted it looks like from Texas A&M um but he is visited South Carolina and he is visiting miss this weekend but if you look at his sitewide rankings on three has him as a three star 247 a fourstar um ESPN a four-star ranked 178 in the country um Rivals a five-star ranked number 17 in the country this this guy's a good football player he at least turn somebody's head to do that now why did that happen we we do have a short highlight to show you right here of why that exactly happened and what you see is that Winston Watkins with the ball in his hand in open space is a little bit of a problem and he has gone to IMG Academy is transferred to First Baptist Academy in Fort Meers Florida so the competition level may not be as high as it needs to be but it's still not bad First Baptist has a very good football program but this is a guy that technically destroys people honestly I think that's the best way to put it he technically destroys people I think that he has some Elijah Moore type skills and I'll ask Brian Smith about it tonight I think he does have some Elijah Morse type skills that he can utilize and we've all seen what llay keing can do with somebody with that skill set Winston Watkins like I said do not look he anytime that you're dealing with anybody that has a five-star rating on any of the services you're never on immediate commit watch okay so don't look for a quick turnaround commit on him but almost being in the game with him is at least interesting Omas has a chance this year to sign four five-star players this year because you look at at kylin Deere who is not listed as a festar now but he has a chance to get there because Brian Smith thinks he's the best running back in the entire country you have Caleb Cunningham who is a five star who is going through his visit was on Old Mrs campus this week you have Jerome miles who was committed to Old Miss from Corner Canyon Utah and you have Winston Watkins potentially so you could have a running back in three wide receivers committed to all missing the same class legitimately this could happen that are five-star players on some service High School recruiting is going differently this year and a lot of that has to do with the fact that almost won 11 games a year ago and I talked about this earlier in the week that this is the year what made Clemson into to what Clemson became in the late 20s was not the Desa Watson and the hunter Renfro class those are the ones that won the first national championship it was the players that they were able to recruit off of that Championship that made Clemson what they were the the Trevor the Travis atn's and the Trevor lawrences those wide receivers that they were just assembly line doing the defensive players they were able to effectively recruit off a really highlevel class and was able to continue that at least for like five years oh miss now they still have to get this first part done but they have the talent the players to do it now they're going and trying to recruit the next part they're trying to find their Trevor Lawrence they're trying to find their tra um Travis ATN they're trying to find those guys to where your program can go up up up up and next thing you know was like hey you're having conversations that Georgia is having right now there is going to be a Georgia fan that pops up in my comments tonight and talking about how has no business doing this y y y some of the most smug stuff you'll ever see you would swear to death it was a Penn State fan but it is because they've become snobbish about football and obviously nobody else can do what they do even though every 10 years three other teams are doing it you know it's all C cyclical and rotates but it just is what it is and it should be pretty cool but yes today's show inmation Jordan Watkins is the most underrated player on miss' football roster and potentially every roster in the Southeastern Conference if Miss goes to a level that I expect Miss to get to this year Jordan Watkins will play a monster role for miss this season this is on top of juice Wells Deion Smith and Trey Harris they are going to find a way to make them work I maybe some 10 Personnel happens from time to time but how do you take Kaden prorn and dayquan Wright off the field it is going to be interesting You' you've seen me call for 12 Personnel all the time and I am all for 12 Personnel we might see a little bit of 10 Personnel from time to time as well just my opinion on that thanks again for making locked on Old Miss your first listen every day and thank you we have the most perspective surrounding Sports and it's one of the many reasons why are the number one part podcast out there and thank you for that this week's top five topic is the top five wide receivers in history put my list out yesterday you can go check that out on the YouTube page but for your second list and checked out lockon sports today they've launched their first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube lockd on sports today is here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockon plus our national shows that are covering every single League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app for those of you on YouTube we will send you there right now hotti toty everyone [Music]