River Rouge High School has been home to some of the top players in the state for the last half decade. From players like Mareyohn Hrabowski(Western Michigan) to Christian Johnson to Jalen Holly to Nick Marsh, who is the number seven receiver in the country, but a player who was overshadowed in his time at Rouge was Jaylen Watson. Watson going into his senior year is now a member of Toledo Central Catholic’s football team in Ohio.
Watson missed a majority of his junior year due to injury which put him behind the eight-ball in terms of recruitment, and then a move to Ohio came for Watson and all of that can be tough in one year. Watson said as much calling it “nerve wracking”, however once he got down there and met his team and got to school he said the transition has been real smooth for him. He would go on to say that in the moment there was second guessing going on but, he did say “I’m blessed to be where I am now.”
During his time at Rouge there was a 1A, 1B situation in the receiver room as it was the Nick Marsh and Jaylen Watson show. While Marsh put up most of the numbers and got more of the national spotlight, Watson went about and did what he needed to do to make himself better. Watson did talk about his time playing with Marsh saying “He’s my brother at the end of the day,” he would continue by saying “We always pushed each other to make each other better.” They had that type of relationship where they could go and help the other out if one of them messed up on something they would coach the other up. Watson did say being able to play with a person like Marsh is something you don’t want to take for granted, but with Watson, now in Ohio, he said that they announced him as the number one receiver, and he said that he’s ready for the target, because he’s going to get the best every week, and he just needs to lead by example. Now being that number one guy he said “expectations are high,” and continued by saying “everyone is going to expect you to make the play when your number is called,” and that is big for Watson. He wants to make sure that he gets everything down at practice and that will translate to Friday nights.
While Watson moved to Ohio that doesn’t mean he will get away form some of the best teams in Michigan. Toledo Central Catholic is now part of the Catholic High School League(CHSL) so he will still run into Detroit Catholic Central, Brother Rice, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, and two time defending MHSAA State Champion De La Salle. Part of playing at Rouge was playing the best in the state and that ment playing some of the CHSL teams, and Watson can take what he learned from playing them here to now in Ohio he said “It’s going to be great,” he also went on to talk about being able to give his new team a few extra tips and possibly give them an advantage playing these teams. Watson also said it’s going to be fun playing back in Michigan for a few games talking about how some of his family that didn’t move to Ohio or can’t make a game in Ohio can still come see him when he’s home.
For Watson the 2022-23 season was plagued with injuries. During his injury plagued junior season he was limited to just three games and with that Watson grew as a player. While it was difficult for him to be on the sidelines not helping his team on the field he found some other ways to help them. As he said “I put my team first,” he continued. “I was cheering them on and doing what I needed to do to help the team any way I could,” Watson would go on to say that this off season he put on some good weight to make sure he could stay out on the field and not miss any more time.
A reason that he wants to be out there even more for his new team is also a new challenge for Watson as he will be playing both sides of the football for the first time in High School. At Rouge they had enough players that each person only played one side of the ball whereas now he will have to play both sides of the field. It’s something he says most people won’t know about him but he said he had played defensive back his whole life, and is excited to finally showcase his talents on that side of the ball.
On July 8 2023 Jaylen Watson committed to the University of Iowa. Iowa is close to Watson as his Uncle played at Iowa. The offer from Iowa was as a defensive back which Watson hasn’t played in high school until this year. He said he was grateful that Iowa took the chance on him as a defensive back. The offer for defense let him know that he had what it takes to play that position at the next level.
Now that he’s officially committed Watson said his goal is to help lead his new team to another state championship. That will come from his big play ability and that fitting for a player known as Big Play Jay. Now with him on both sides of the ball he can go and make those big plays on both sides that fans of Rouge only got to see him make on one side. Watson finished by saying he got the “Big Play” nickname in little league and it’s only fitting for him to go out with a bang.