PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Justin Watson rewrote the record books as a wide receiver at the University of Pennsylvania. Now, he's a member of the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Watson's numbers at Penn were eye-popping. He ended his college career as the Quakers' all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and all-purpose yards. During most of his career, everyone in the stadium knew where the ball was going to go, but opponents still couldn't stop him.
To that end, there is one game that really sticks out for Watson - a road matchup against Yale his junior year in 2016.
"They had tackled me for like a two-yard gain on my first carry, and the whole defense was around me, all chirping. You could tell that they'd been getting talked to all week," he said.
"After that, me and (quarterback) Alek Torgersen just kind of lit it up and we went for, I think, three touchdowns and 180 yards in the first half. It's just cool seeing them go from all together tackling me, chirping on me to after the third touchdown, right at the end of the first half, they're all bickering and yelling at each other."
In addition to playing wide receiver, Watson has been a special teams standout for the Bucaneers and made a bit of history this past season when he became the first offensive player to ever record a sack for Tampa Bay.
It came on a punt against Carolina in November. Watson said the film he watched of the Panthers told him that the formation they were lined up in meant they probably weren't planning to kick the ball away.
"So I thought it was a fake the whole way and then when he lined up to pass, I didn't think I was going to get there, but then he tried to step up in the pocket, punter trying to act like a quarterback, I just came in and just hit him as hard as I could," he recalled.
"After I tackled him, I got to the sideline and I was kind of jokingly the one telling everyone, 'Hey, he lined up for a pass, that's not a tackle for a loss, that's a sack. He was throwing!' I remember all the defensive linemen and the edge rushers were like, 'No way! No way that counts as a sack.'"
You can listen to the entire interview with Justin Watson by checking out the latest episode of the KYW Newsradio original podcast, "1-on-1 with Matt Leon." Subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.