TSR signing day countdown: Taylor Watson

With national signing day for football drawing near, TerpSportsReport.com is catching up with the players who will comprise the next generation of Terps. In this installement we chat with Taylor Watson, for whom signing day will hold extra meaning.

“I was looking at probably getting offers from JMU and some Division I-AA schools,” says Watson, who emerged seemingly out of the blue to earn a scholarship offer at Maryland’s camp last summer. “It was crazy. It was like all my hard work ended up paying off right then.”

Watson nearly jumped out of his cleats to commit, but realized he had to go home and discuss it with his family first. UConn was very interested and other schools were likely to catch onto him as well, but he quickly gave Terps coach Ralph Friedgen his pledge. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound tight end-fullback was the latest in a recent string of Gwynn park players to choose Maryland, following in the footsteps of Wesley Jefferson, Adrian Moten and Quintin McCree.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Coach [Danny] Hayes does a great job with all of his players. Our training is just intense all summer,” said Watson, who will likely play an H-back type of role at Maryland. “I talk to Adrian a lot. He told me he loves it there and that it’s just like home.”

With Corey Jackson returning at fullback and Watson needing to add a few more pounds, he seems very likely to redshirt next year, with which he has no problem.

“I need to work on getting bigger so I can take on blocks,” said Watson, who’ll look to add about 10 pounds of muscle. “They don’t want me to lose my quickness, my speed, the things that make me, me.”

Watson will enter with a major in Letters and Sciences, but plans to switch to Kinesiology.

Obviously, I want to get on the field as soon as possible. Everybody wants to play,” he said. “But going to Maryland and getting my degree, that’s what I’m most excited about.”