Julius Caesar "Trey" Watts III (born February 13, 1991) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

. He played college football at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin ...

and was signed by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2014.

High school

Watts was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at

Oakton High School Oakton High School is a public high school in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in proximity to the town of Vienna, in the United States. It is part of Fairfax County Public Schools. Oakton operates on a block schedule five days a week, ...

. Started at running back and played cornerback. Had career statistics of 198 carries for 1,160 yards and 21 touchdowns and also had 48 receptions for 900 yards and 11 touchdowns. Watts helped lead his team to a 13–1 record and Division 6 state semifinal appearance his senior season and was named to the Virginia High School Coaches Association and Associated Press all-state second-team as a running back and kick returner his senior season as well as being named to the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

all-Met honorable mention and first-team all-league squad as a senior. Earned first-team all-district and all-region honors as a running back and kick returner and rushed for 654 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior, while catching 39 passes for 732 yards and 10 touchdowns. Totaled 506 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground as a junior, while catching nine passes for 168 yards and one touchdown.

Recruiting

Coming out of high school, Watts primary selling point was that his father, J.C. Watts, a former member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

, was previously a starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the " Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land R ...

. He received no

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...

scholarship offers, but thanks to a connection from his father, then Tulsa running backs coach (now head coach)

Bill Blankenship Bill Blankenship (born December 12, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head coach of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 2011 through 2014.Eric Bailey"Bill Blankenship named new Tulsa football coach" '' Tu ...

convinced Watts to walk-on at Tulsa.

College career

2011

After

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

ing his true freshman season and playing sparingly his redshirt freshman season, Watts came out of spring practice poised to make a contribution to the team. He led the team in all-purpose yards finishing with 1,629 (combined rushing, receiving, and return).

2012

In 2012, Watts earned second-team All-Conference USA honors as a

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

and honorable mention All-Conference USA accolades as a tailback. Watts had a particularly notable performance in the

2012 Liberty Bowl The 2012 Liberty Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game held on December 31, 2012, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The 54th edition of the Liberty Bowl began at 2:30 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It featured ...

against

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

during which he amassed 25 carries for 149 yards. In Tulsa's previous game, the conference championship, Watts recorded a 50-yard punt return for a touchdown. In total, Watts amassed 959 rushing yards on the season which led Conference USA and averaged 29.6 yards per kickoff return which ranked eighth in the country. He rushed for three touchdowns.

2013

As a senior in 2013, Watts ran for 1,329 yards with 11 touchdowns.

Professional career

St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams

Watts was signed as an undrafted free agent after the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New Y ...

by the

. On October 12, 2015, Watts was released, but re-signed on October 15. Watts was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy on November 4, 2015. On March 10, 2017, Watts was released from the reserve/suspended list by the Rams.

Personal life

Watts is the son of J.C. Watts who was previously a member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

, a quarterback for the

, and is currently a lobbyist. His mother is Frankie Watts.

References

External links

Tulsa Golden Hurricane bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Trey Living people 1991 births Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Sportspeople from Norman, Oklahoma American football running backs St. Louis Rams players Los Angeles Rams players Oakton High School alumni