Husky Roster Review: Watkins Gets Big Head Start on UW Career

The freshman offensive guard ran with the No. 1 offense for much of spring ball.

Michael Levelle Watkins and Zach Henning form a UW huddle. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Sometimes you forget who you're dealing with when these guys walk into Husky Stadium with their 300-pound bodies, begin cracking helmets with sixth-year seniors such as Jacob Bandes and Alphonzo Tuputala and do their best to fit the process.

Take Michael Levelle Watkins, for example. A freshman from Glendale, Arizona, he joined the University of Washington football team for spring practice, drew No. 55 on offense and took a majority of the snaps as the No. 1 right offensive guard over the next month.

He was just 17.

Watkins had to act like this was business as usual, that he actually was the first man up to serve as Julius Buelow's replacement from the Huskies' national runner-up team. The idea is he would handle this responsibility at least until fall camp, when reinforcements arrive or holdover veterans become healthy and cleared to play again.

Whereas his classmates at Apollo High School were off enjoying spring break or making plans for senior prom, Watkins was studying the game in a crash course under Brennan Carroll, the UW offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach.

For five weeks, he learned proper technique for forming a pocket around Mississippi State transfer quarterback Will Rogers and for opening holes for the Husky running backs, who included Adam Mohammed, his one-tine Apollo teammate and a fellow freshman.

Talk about a college running start program.

Michael Watkins grabs a handful of Kahlee Tafai's jersey. / Skylar Lin Visuals

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the Husky roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did this past spring and what to expect from them going forward.

Watkins seemed to hold up well this spring, though he was spotted after one practice riding a stationary bike in a vigorous stand-up manner with a coach or a trainer standing next to him and monitoring his progress, presumably because he like was carrying a little too much excess weight on his 6-foot-2, 315-pound physique.

As this exceedingly young player, he received the chance of a football lifetime to run with the first-team Husky offense for five weeks, which should accelerate his development with Fisch's football team.

Four weeks after the spring football game was played, after 15 spring practices, Watkins passed another threshold -- on May 31, he celebrated his 18th birthday.

Michael Watkins takes a drink during UW spring ball. / Skylar Lin Visuals

MICHAEL WATKINS FILE

What he's done: Watkins originally signed with Arizona when Fisch was there, but entered the transfer portal on Feb. 8, or three weeks after the coach left for the UW, and committed to the Huskies on Feb. 29. He has 15 colllege practices under his belt. His big offseason challenge will be to get in much better shape for the rigors of college football.

Starter or not: After getting thrown into the football fire at such a young age, there's no reason why Watkins doesn't firm up his frame and become a starting candidate by 2025 or beyond. Meantime, he should work on finding the right weight and just getting on the field whenever he can this fall.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington