Prospect Spotlight: Tyler Watson (2018)
Tri-West has been a football power for years and the basketball team has not been far behind. With an overflow of gridiron talent onto the court not many schools can match up with the toughness and physicality that Tri-West brings every game. Tri-West has a ton of future stars in their starting five as Matt Chinn (Wabash College), Peyton Hendershot (IU-football), and Jake Hill (Saint Francis-football) are all going to the next level to play a sport. Junior 6′ guard Tyler Watson may be in line for the best college career of them all though.
A stud on the court and on the field, Watson excels in the classroom as well with a 4.1 GPA. Watson is a two-sport star who really turns heads in both sports.
Last year on the football field Watson had 157 tackles good for 14.3 per game but also scored four rushing touchdowns and had 28 receptions for a team that lost in the second round of sectionals.
This year on the court he may not even be turning in his best year to date scoring 18.2 points a game. Last year as a sophomore he scored 20.6 points a game and was a basket away from hitting 600 points on the season. He’s already hit 1000 points in his career and could easily reach 1400 this year with another run in the tournament like last year.
“It was awesome,” Watson said of reaching 1000 points. “All the work my dad and I put in the gym after practice finally getting recognized and rewarded for that and I’m hungry for two thousand.”
Watson is unsure of whether or not he wants to play basketball or football in college, and he potentially could play both if he finds the right fit. So far schools at all levels have shown interest in his abilities.
“I’m keeping my options open right now so I might play football and I might play basketball,” Watson said. “I’m just going to keep going hard in both, in the weight room and on the court and see where I land.”
Watson has been hard at work in the offseason on his basketball abilities getting better and better every year, especially this past summer. Watson already had a good shot and really has improved it to be more reliable and more versatile.
“I have improved my athleticism and my shot off the bounce,” Watson said. “I think I’m getting to be a better passer and I have been seeing the floor better than I normally do.”
Tri-West made a deep run into the tournament last year before falling to Evansville Bosse and finishing the year 22-7. This year Tri-West sits at 15-3 and they are looking to make a huge push in the tournament. They have all the pieces to do so and are really starting to come into their own.
“State is the goal,” Watson said. “For me personally, I want to be a junior all-star. I think I am good enough to do that.”
Being in a program like Tri-West, Watson is set up to shine in both football and basketball. On the court he has the body that college coaches will drool over and plays a style that will either keep him on ball or give him the ability to create off the ball. Be on the lookout for Watson to start turning heads in coaches offices early next year as he becomes more of a threat in both sports and starts to become one of the impact names in the state in both sports.