Tag: Winston Watkins Jr.

Winston Watkins Jr. opens up on decision to decommit from Colorado

Winston Watkins Jr. opened up on his decision to decommit from Colorado

Class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. surprised a lot of people when he decided to decommit from Colorado on Sunday. The young recruit committed to Colorado immediately after Deion Sanders got hired, and he has surely made highlights over the summer at various camps.

Despite the decision to open up his recruitment, Watkins said he’s still considering a future in Boulder, per Adam Gorney of Rivals.

“I’m still messing with Colorado super, super heavy, but I just want to make sure I’m making the right decision,” Watkins told Rivals.

Watkins also told Recruiting News Guru the following: “I am making sure I am making the right decision; I am keeping my options open. There are a lot of schools wanting to contact me, but they are scared of Colorado. I want to make sure everyone can show me their best.”

The First Baptist Academy (Fla.) wide receiver’s attention is currently on the playoffs, but the good news is that Colorado still has a shot of landing him.

Hopefully, Watkins’ decision doesn’t lead to other decommits, although Colorado isn’t the only program dealing with this.

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Four-star WR Winston Watkins Jr. decommits from Coach Prime’s Buffs

Winston Watkins Jr. is no longer a Colorado commit

Four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr., a 2025 recruit who committed to Colorado just one day after Deion Sanders was hired last December, is no longer a Buffs pledge.

As first reported by On3’s Hayes Fawcett on Sunday morning, Watkins has made the decision to decommit from CU.

The Florida native is the No. 13 ranked WR and the No. 74 overall prospect in the 2025 class (247Sports Composite). He owns a total of 22 college offers, per Fawcett.

Colorado’s 2025 class is back down to two commits, four-star quarterback Antwann Hill Jr. and three-star running back Jamarice Wilder.

Here’s how social media reacted to Watkins’ decommitment:

CU Buffs commit Winston Watkins Jr. coming to Boulder for USC game

Colorado commit @winstonwatkins_ is coming to Boulder for tomorrow’s USC game

Saturday’s showdown between the Colorado Buffaloes and USC Trojans will reportedly have a ton of celebrities and superstar athletes on hand, including LeBron James, Lil Wayne and others.

Plenty of major media outlets will also be taking in the action, and a number of big-name recruits are going to be visiting Boulder as well.

One of the most notable recruits set to be in Boulder is class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr., who was one of the first big commits for head coach Deion Sanders after he was hired by the Buffs. Watkins revealed that he’ll be in Boulder for the game via a tweet on Thursday.

Watkins has a ton of potential and is a massive get for Coach Prime. Experiencing Folsom Field on a game day will surely help him become even more excited about his future with the Buffs.

A list of some of the other notable recruits visiting Boulder this weekend can be found here.

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WATCH: CU commit Winston Watkins Jr. dazzles in IMG Academy win

Colorado commit @winstonwatkins_ made a dazzling play in IMG Academy’s win on Saturday

The talent in the Colorado Buffaloes football program is going to be fun to watch for the foreseeable future with Deion Sanders bringing in top-ranked recruits left and right. One of the first big recruits he brought in when he was hired was class of 2025 four-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr.

Watkins has been catching eyeballs all summer long and his junior year of high school is now underway. And, already, he has reminded Buffs fans why he will be a threat when he arrives on campus in 2025.

Against St. Josephs’s Prep on Saturday, Watkins caught a short pass, broke a tackle and tiptoed down the sideline for a massive gain.

IMG Academy ended up winning the game 17-14 with the help of Watkins.

As the season goes along, it will be worth monitoring to see what other big plays the CU commit makes.

The future looks bright for the Buffs and at least for now, we can only envision what Watkins will do in the black and gold.

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2025 commit Winston Watkins Jr. sees bright future at Colorado

Winston Watkins Jr. believes that if the #cubuffs can at least make a bowl game this fall, the program has enough talent coming in to soon go much bigger

Similar to 2024 commit Danny O’Neil, Winston Watkins Jr. projects pure optimism when discussing his future at Colorado.

The 2025 five-star wide receiver may be a couple of years away from arriving on campus, but he believes that if head coach Deion Sanders can lead Colorado to a bowl game this fall, the Buffs have enough talent in the pipeline to go even bigger.

“I feel like we can win a championship by the time I get there,” Watkins said at the NextGen Five-Star Pro Day selected by Rivals last week. “If they go out and do what they have to do and make it to a bowl game, my class is coming in and I’m going to get some of my guys to come with me. As long as those guys can set the tone and it shows Deion can win with what he’s got then when he gets elite players we can be up there with the big dogs.”

About midway through his first summer in Boulder, Coach Prime’s growing 2024 class ranks No. 54 in the nation while Watkins represents the program’s lone 2025 commit.

In that same interview with Rivals, Watkins talked about his difficult decision to decommit from Texas A&M last November, his relationship with Shedeur Sanders and his longtime admiration for Deion Sanders.

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Colorado commit Winston Watkins Jr. earns WR MVP at Rivals Camp

Winston Watkins Jr. turned some heads at a Rivals Camp

Winston Watkins Jr. is a few years away from sporting a Colorado Buffaloes jersey, but the five-star wide receiver in the class of 2025 continues to make headlines.

Watkins dazzled with his impressive athleticism earlier this offseason at the IMG pro day, and now he has been named the WR MVP at the Rivals Camp this past weekend.

Watkins has been flying up boards and is in the top 10 of the Rivals 250 list, and he can continue to make strides if he puts up performances such as these.

Watkins was everywhere during the camp, and he made arguably the best catch of the day with this must-see one-handed grab:

That led to Watkins being named the WR MVP of the camp, and he took to Twitter to share his thoughts on receiving the award.

Adam Friedman of Rivals.com also raved about the performance Watkins put on during the camp:

Watkins won the wide receiver MVP on Sunday because of his consistently outstanding play but one particular play that stood out when thinking back on the camp as a whole. During 1-on-1s, the Colorado commit swatted away the defenders hands, got an outside release, and spun around while leaping in the air to snag the ball with one hand for a touchdown.

Watkins celebrated with a dance in the end zone while the other players, coaches and fans in the stands applauded.

Watkins was one of the first players to commit to Colorado after Deion Sanders was hired, and he continues to look like a massive addition for the Buffs come 2025.

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CU Buffs commit Winston Watkins Jr. shows off athleticism at IMG’s pro day

Five-star #cubuffs commit Winston Watkins Jr. showed off his athleticism at IMG’s pro day

The future of the Colorado Buffaloes football program looks brighter than ever after a massive roster overhaul engineered by new head coach Deion Sanders.

The 2023 roster looks talented, but the 2024 and 2025 classes also have a lot of promise. One notable name is five-star Florida WR Winston Watkins Jr., who was one of the first additions after Coach Ptime took the job.

The class of 2025 standout has been impressive, and he made some noise by displaying his athleticism during the IMG Academy’s recent pro day. Watkins stands 5-foot-10 and just 172 pounds, but he has a couple of years left in high school before making his way over to Boulder.

Watkins played a little bit as a sophomore, but IMG Academy is always one of the top programs in the country and in the state of Florida, so his time will come soon.

Watkins has attracted plenty of interest from top-tier programs, including Texas A&M, Miami, Ohio State and Alabama, and his decision to go to Colorado was likely influenced by Coach Prime’s pull.

He is a long way away, but seeing athleticism such as this has to make Buffs fans and Coach Prime excited about what the future has in store.

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Why Ohio State still hasn’t offered the 2025 top ranked player in Ohio?

A bit off but hopefully they pull the trigger soon #GoBucks

The [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] recruiting machine typically takes the best instate prospects while sampling top players from across the nation. For the class of 2025, athlete [autotag]Dorian Brew[/autotag] of Northmont, Ohio, ranks among the best instate talents. However, [autotag]Ryan Day[/autotag] and crew have not yet offered even though Notre Dame, Michigan and Wisconsin reached out with a scholarship this past week.

The Buckeyes don’t have too many offers out to the ‘25 class, but they have offered a quartet of receivers: Texas’ [autotag]Dakorien Moore[/autotag], Florida’s [autotag]Winston Watkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaime Ffrench[/autotag] and California’s [autotag]Kamryn Jones[/autotag]. The first three are already five-stars prospects. Among Jones’ early offers are Oregon, Tennessee, Georgia and [autotag]Washington[/autotag], and he seems trending toward five-star status.

What’s taking so long for Day to pull the trigger on Brew? One would have to think it’s due to the four other prospects being offered to this point and the staff feeling like they have legit shots at signing them.

That still to me isn’t a valid reason for not offering Brew. When you have a top player in your backyard, you offer. Hopefully, it happens because the staff is well aware of him.

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Colorado gets commitment from 5-star WR Winston Watkins Jr., over 200 more recruits reach out

Watkins shared the news with an edit on Twitter.

Deion Sanders is shaking up the amateur football landscape, especially in the recruiting department. His decision to leave Jackson State and become the new head coach at Colorado has suddenly made the Buffaloes major players in the recruiting game.

On Sunday, five-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. (class of 2025) committed to Colorado. Watkins is the cousin of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who’s scored 34 touchdowns in 108 career NFL games and won a Super Bowl.

Watkins shared the news with an edit on Twitter:

Watkins (5-foot-10, 172 pounds) plays for IMG Academy in Florida, a magnet for elite high school football talent. He’s ranked No. 4 among wide receivers by the 247Sports composite and No. 13 overall in his class.

Watkins had offers from 17 other programs, including Texas A&M, which had been the favorite to land him.

If nothing else, Watkins won’t be lonely. According to a report by Josh Newberg at on3, Colorado has had over 200 recruits reach out since the Sanders news became official, including some four and five-star prospects.

Getting Watkins puts Colorado at the top of the ’25 recruiting rankings, but Sanders has inherited the No. 61 ranked recruiting class in 2023, and Colorado currently has no recruits for 2024.

However, Sanders is planning to bring over many of his former players from Jackson State and advised current Colorado players to enter the transfer portal.

For starters, Jackson’s son Shedeur will be starting at quarterback.

More recruiting stories

Ranking the top 100 recruits of 2023

Alabama increases ’23 lead, Georgia flips 4-star WR

Super 25

USA TODAY Sports Super 25 high school football rankings

No. 11 IMG Academy wraps season with victory over No. 2 St. Frances Academy

IMG Academy took down St. Frances academy with help from Ohio State commit Carnell Tate and newly un-committed Winston Watkins Jr.

If there was one high school game important for college football fans to pay attention to over the weekend — and perhaps over the entire season — it was the clash between No. 2 St. Frances Academy (Md.) and No. 11 IMG Academy (Fla.).

In the showing of star power, IMG Academy took home the 27-16 win and closed its season with an 8-1 record.

Though IMG was ranked lower, calling this an upset wouldn’t exactly be right. Both schools are historically dominant and carried that into this year. Entering the game, SFA was 8-0 with wins against very good schools around the country, including East St. Louis (Ill.), DeSoto (Texas), Venice (Florida), Dutch Fork (Irmo, S.C.), and Kahuku (Hawaii). Meanwhile, IMG was 7-1 with four straight shutouts—a combined score of 254-0.

The teams and their fans desperately wanted a win, but college football fans could simply enjoy it as peak high school performance and also a glimpse at players who might don the jerseys of their favorite team in the future.

Ohio State commit Carnell Tate, a 6-foot-2 receiver for IMG, finished the game with two touchdowns:

Sophomore Winston Watkins Jr. decommitted from Texas A&M the morning of the game and gave college programs an argument for why they should be the next school to offer him. The 5-foot-10 receiver, ranked No. 13 on the 247Sports composite, scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

It was his tenth touchdown of the season, according to ScorebookLive.

One of the game’s most important plays came in the second quarter. Jordan Johnson-Rubell broke the game open with an interception near the five-yard line that he returned for a touchdown, giving the Ascenders cushion for the second half.

Johnson-Rubell, ranked as a four-star safety and the No. 86 player on the composite, has 26 offers, per 247Sports.

The Athletic posted an intriguing recruitment article in March, headlined by Johnson-Rubell but more broadly about IMG’s college recruitment in general. While he plays in Florida, he could be considered a Texas high school prospect as well.

That’s meaningless to IMG fans, but for college fans paying attention to these games, it adds a different level of possibility for these players.

There were plenty of top-tiered recruits to pay attention to during this game. In the end, IMG’s stars got the upper hand on those from St. Frances Academy.

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