William Watson III stood at midcourt of a high school basketball game at his Springfield, Massachusetts, school on Tuesday evening and went through the standard list of people to thank when making a major decisions. Coaches, teammates, teachers, family and so on.
While he did, people in the crowd shouted, “Love you, Pop!†addressing the class of 2023 quarterback by his nickname.
Then Watson, who has been one of the most electrifying high school football players in the state for the past three years, said he’d let the crowd in on his future plans.
He’s going to play quarterback at Nebraska.
The three-star signal-caller gave his verbal commitment to the Huskers and checked off a major box in NU’s recruiting efforts for the 2023 cycle in the process. The Huskers have their quarterback for the class.
Watson (6-foot and 190 pounds) plays at Springfield Central High and, pertinently, has a long-standing relationship with new Nebraska offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple.
Watson held an offer from Pitt when Whipple was the offensive coordinator there and, though NU had done its diligence and evaluated the three-star quarterback before Whipple was hired, the connection between the sides increased quickly once Whipple was in Lincoln.
Watson attended a junior day in January at NU and picked the Huskers not long after.
Watson saw heavy recruiting interest early in his high school career. In addition to the Panthers, he picked up offers from Tennessee, Michigan, Oregon and others during his freshman year. Even before that, Whipple offered Watson a scholarship in 2018 when Watson was an eighth grader and Whipple was in his final season as the head coach at UMass.Â
The relationship with Whipple has clearly persisted throughout his high school career.
“Whipple’s offense has an answer for every problem,†Watson "The guy is mastermind. I think his offense is really good for me. The concepts … something is always open. Everything is high-low. … I have watched Whipple’s film so many times. I know it like the back of my hand.â€
According to MaxPreps, Watson as a junior completed 59.7% of his passes for 2,026 yards and 22 touchdowns against three interceptions, and he also ran for 590 yards (8.6 per carry) and seven more scores. His best season statistically came when he burst onto the recruiting scene as a freshman when he threw for 2,378 yards on 61% completions, 31 touchdowns and just four interceptions to go along with 334 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.
In the process this fall, Watson helped lead Central to a Division 1 state championship in December after the school won back-to-back titles at the lower Division 3 in 2018 and 2019.Â
For his efforts as a junior, Watson was named the MaxPreps Massachusetts Player of the Year in December.Â
Nebraska head coach Scott Frost has typically committed to taking only one high school quarterback recruit per year. After the 2021 season, of course, the Huskers reshaped the position when Adrian Martinez transferred to Kansas State and NU added Casey Thompson and Chubba Purdy via the transfer portal in addition to 2022 signee Richard Torres.
National Signing Day is a long way off, of course, but NU accepting Watson’s commitment at this point would seem to significantly impact pursuit in the coming months of regional players like four-star prospects J.J. Kohl (Ankeny, Iowa) and Avery Johnson (Maize, Kansas), both of whom the Huskers visited and recruited this spring, and Gretna three-star Zane Flores, who does not hold an offer from NU.
Watson is the second addition to Nebraska's 2023 class in recent days, following three-star in-state offensive lineman Sam Sledge from Creighton Prep, who made his decision public on Sunday evening, and the fifth member of the class overall for the Huskers.Â
Check back for updates to this story.
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