Sports Passion The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3 (February 2014) | Page 24

Sammy Watkins – On To The Next Level The decision to declare for the 2014 NFL draft was a no-brainer for Clemson star wide receiver Sammy Watkins. A dominant college career has established Watkins as one of the premier prospects in the nation at receiver. Tigers’ fans will miss the junior’s game breaking talent, but all college fans get used to watching their star players depart season after season. There’s no question that it is time for Watkins to test his undeniable talent at the very highest level. Clemson’s crushing Orange Bowl victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes offered a pretty firm reminder of just how good Watkins could be. He broke the previous Orange Bowl record finishing with 227 yards of offense on 16 catches while also picking up a pair of touchdowns. The Buckeyes’ secondary may have been depleted, but Watkins’ highlight loaded performance still demonstrated everything that is good about the Florida native’s game. He made some big time plays, showed strength to break through and hold on against tackles, and of course showed off that elite level acceleration. The importance and benefit to Watkins in having such a strong postseason performance cannot and should not be under-estimated. A mediocre display two years ago in the same game against the West Virginia Mountaineers, where Clemson were on the end of a 70-33 demolition, was a slight taint on Watkins’ otherwise virtually flawless college career. He now has a dominant, record breaking postseason performance to go along with his impressive regular season statistics. Watkins could hardly enter his draft year with more eye opening statistics. He finished the season with 12 touchdown catches to along with more than 1,400 yards of offense. His biggest strength is probably coming off the screen, and he completed enough big plays during the course of the season to catch plenty of national attention. It’s difficult to separate Watkins from his quarterback Tajh Boyd in terms of who had the bigger impact for Clemson’s offense. However, there is less argument regarding which player has the higher probability of enjoying success at NFL level. Page | 24