Cal Football: Tre Watson's `Faith Journey' Lands Him as Bears' Defensive Backs Coach

Former Walk-On at Washington Has Never Stopped Believing in Himself

In the latest chapter of what he calls his “faith journey,” Tre Watson finds himself as the new defensive backs coach at Cal. It’s not where he ever expected to be.

“He has a tremendous story,” said Cal outside linebackers coach Keith Heyward.

That story was fueled by work ethic and self belief and propelled Watson from under-recruited high school star to walk-on at Washington to two-year starter in the Huskies’ defensive backfield.

The Huskies’ coaching roster in 2012 and ’13 included three key members of Cal’s current staff: head coach Justin Wilcox (UW defensive coordinator), defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon (linebackers) and Heyward (defensive backs), who talks about Watson in the video below:

Those connections, obviously, boosted Watson’s candidacy to become Cal’s secondary coach when Marcel Yates took the same job at Oregon this offseason.

It’s an assignment Watson, still just 29, never imagined he’d want.

“I honestly never wanted to be a coach,” said Watson, who began to change his thinking after the last conversation he had with Wilcox at the end of his UW senior season.

“He specifically said to me, `You should get into coaching. I think you have the mindset and temperament to really be good at it,’ “ Watson said. “I didn’t see it then. He saw something in me that I didn’t see. I’m just thankful for this opportunity to be here with him.”

Watson said he was initially deterred by “the rigorousness of this responsibility,” what he regarded as a “grind” that would include travel and time away from family.

But after three years in the profession — two as a graduate assistant at Oregon and last season as DBs coach at UNLV — Watson has embraced all that comes with the job.

“The commitment is a blessing now that I’m in it,” Watson said, “to really get to help these young men and mentor them and help them grow and achieve their potential.”

Wilcox says successful coaches come from different backgrounds, including some who are former star players.

“For most of us, it’s the way you approach the game. You appreciate the technique and the work ethic and the toughness and all those things it takes to be a good player,” Wilcox said. “And Tre had those traits as a youngster and still has ‘em today. He’s the same person I remember up in Seattle.”

How Watson got to UW is an impressive tale of perseverance.

As a senior at Kennedy High in Seattle in the fall of 2008, Watson was a dynamite two-way player, He earned All-State honors from the Seattle Times after rushing for more than 1,800 yards — at 12 yards per clip — and scoring 35 touchdowns for a 9-2 team that reached the state quarterfinals.

“I was all right. We had a pretty good team,” Watson recalled.

But the recruiting response was underwhelming, so Watson bet on himself. Rather than accept an offer from a place he didn’t want to be, he played a year of junior college football, then one season at Division II Central Washington.

That gave Watson the notion that he could be a Pac-12 player.

“I’m very confident in my personal ability,” he said.

Tre Watson with an 84-yard pick-six for Washington vs. Colorado in 2013 / Photo courtesy of Washington Athletics

.Heyward, the Huskies’ DBs coach at the time, recalls Watson as “the walk-on who wasn’t even on the team but he just kept showing up.

“Really tough, gritty player. And it was like, let’s give this guy chance,” Heyward said. "The next thing you know he’s out there starting for us in Baton Rouge, locking down Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham.”

It wasn’t quite that immediate. Watson red-shirted in 2011, then was put on scholarship the day before the 2012 opener against SanDiego State. He started at cornerback in his Division I debut, collecting three tackles and a pass breakup and returning an interception 34 yards to set up the game’s first touchdown.

Then came the trip to LSU, where the Huskies lost badly but Watson continued to distinguish himself. He had six tackles and two pass breakups, and helped limit Beckham and Landry to a combined three receptions with no touchdowns. As NFL stars, the two have more than 1,000 catches and 85 TDs.

Watson played 26 games in two seasons with the Huskies, seeing action at corner, safety and nickel. He had 74 career tackles, 12 pass breakups and two interceptions, including one he returned 84 yards for a touchdown against Colorado in 2013.

“Really just earned his way,” Wilcox said. “Conscientious, hard-working, instinctive, tough . . . all the character traits you look for in a player. He wasn’t the biggest guy. Had good speed, but not elite speed. Just knew how to play football.”

He has one more quality, as Heyward noted. "He’s a smart dude. That’s why he ascended to this level as fast as he did. I look forward to seeing him continue to grow and helping him any way I can.”

Watson is appreciative of the help he’s received every step of the way, but he’s here also because he took on the challenge.

“It was definitely what I call a faith journey, to believe and know that when I got the chance, I’ll be ready for it.,” he said. “It was exciting, the process I went through.

"It prepared me for this, to know there’s moments where a young man is going to face some adversity. So how can my journey help them grow through it?”

Cover photo of Tre Watson by Jared Prescott, Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo