In the “” which has more than 1 million views on YouTube, the 16-year-old wideout rubbed his hands together and confidently smiled as he announced himself and all of his titles.
’s , Class of 2025 receiver, five-star,” he said, “IMG Academy.”
The blue-chip recruit, standing in front of his bunk bed in the IMG dorms, proceeded to guide his audience around a playground of an athletics-focused campus, including a brick-oven pizza station in the cafeteria, trolley cars that haul students, a spacious weight room, and decked-out locker rooms and fields.
Despite his 5-foot-10, 170-pound stature, Watkins was a highly coveted recruit. He committed to Texas A&M as a freshman, flipped to Deion Sanders and Colorado as a sophomore, then finally latched on with Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss.
His five-star title, however, didn’t come with him.
Whether it was his transfer from IMG to Venice High School as a senior to be closer to his ailing grandmother, or a failure of his genetics to match his father’s 6-2 height, recruiting services downgraded Watkins to a four-star prospect before he graduated. He arrived in Oxford, Mississippi, as the No. 32 receiver nationally in the 247Sports Composite.
“I ain’t trying to tell the whole world about it,” said Winston Watkins Sr., understanding most will fail to relate to these star ratings, which have outsized importance to the teens labeled by them. “All that did is bring the lion out of him even more. That fueled him.”
The boyish charm of “Winnie,” who gained nearly a half-million TikTok followers during his IMG days with catchy dances and jokes, easily can mask the competitor who just logged seven catches, 124 total yards and a touchdown in his LSU debut last weekend.
He’s a freak athlete. At 6 years old, Watkins set a long-jump record of 11 feet, 3½ inches at the AAU Primary National Championship at Walt Disney World, according to his father.
He quickened his feet with soccer but also traded blows as a youth boxer. Watkins Sr. still has a clip of his son’s first fight as an 8-year-old, launching a flurry so vicious that the referee had to step in and protect the other boy from being pummeled.
“Boxing and track, it's one-man sports,” Watkins Sr. said. “It helps you learn to compete against anybody. It made him feel like, when he’s on that field, can’t nobody stop him.”
Fort Myers phenoms
Watkins Jr. had every reason to believe he could rise from Fort Myers, Florida, where too many talented athletes immerse themselves in the wrong crowds, fall behind in class and never make the grade.
He had better examples than most.
Not only was Watkins Sr. a baseball player at Florida A&M who played minor league ball, but his father was brothers with Sammy and Jaylen Watkins’ grandfather, making a pair of former NFL players Watkins Jr.’s cousins.
Sammy, a two-time All-American receiver at Clemson who was drafted fourth overall by the Buffalo Bills in 2014, offered Watkins Jr. lessons from the ups and downs of his football journey. The kid watched his share of Clemson games as Sammy helped Dabo Swinney build a national power.
“He's the most low-maintenance superstar I've ever recruited,” Swinney said of Sammy, a 6-1, 212-pound wideout and five-star recruit who came ready to barrel through secondaries.
Sammy showed Watkins Jr. what a playmaker looks like. Sammy’s half-brother, Jaylen, a defensive back at the University of Florida who became a high school coach after his pro career, offered X's-and-O's wisdom from the other side of the ball.
Watkins Jr. also followed the career of Noel Devine, a 5-8, 180-pound running back who brought Florida speed to West Virginia. He was undersized, which fit Watkins Jr.’s mold.
“They made it out of Fort Myers. They went and showed that it's possible, you know?” Watkins Jr. said. “Guys like that always influenced me to go out there and just be able to put my all out there and maximize my opportunity.”
His work ethic was strong. Watkins Sr. recalled a time he brought his 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter to a nearby stadium for “500s,” or five consecutive sprints around a track in close succession. Watkins Jr. and his sister vomited after their fifth one.
But the workout didn’t end there. They just kept going.
“His conditioning was out of this world,” said Venice High coach John Peacock, who was amazed when the IMG transfer flew through offseason workouts. “The way he runs routes is unbelievable, how smooth he is. He blocks, he’s tough as nails. He's just built different.”
Peacock put the ball in Watkins' hands, in every way possible.
In the second quarter of a Florida Class 7A state title victory, Watkins scooped up a punt after a big bounce, surprising a couple of gunners who believed they were about to down it. Watkins went 65 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.
He’s fast, but Watkins is also stronger than most defenders assume. In the third quarter, Watkins caught a short pass, ripping out of one tackler’s grasp, sending the next diving past him with a juke and stiff-arming the last.
In the fourth quarter, Watkins was lined up at quarterback, faking a handoff and coasting for a long touchdown run to balloon Venice’s 52-13 advantage.
The relentless slot receiver, who also played cornerback, was tailor made for Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr.’s uptempo scheme, because they could mercilessly impose his stamina on opposing defenses.
“I was like, they keep defenses moving and get them tired, and I won't get tired,” Watkins said. “I can play in space and do what I do.”
He flashed as a freshman at Ole Miss, especially during a four-catch, 111-yard outing at Oklahoma in late October. Watkins’ stops and starts over the middle, plus a slant and go over the top of the Sooners defense, had defensive backs lagging behind.
The 5-11, 185-pound slot receiver’s skills remind Kiffin of former Ole Miss receiver Elijah Moore, who was a second-round pick by the Jets in 2021.
“He’s such a pro,” Kiffin said of Watkins, before he stopped himself mid-answer.
“I don't know why we do this. You ask me about him, and I say all these great things, and his (NIL) price is just gonna go up,” Kiffin said with a laugh. “Not really smart by me.”
Watkins came to college ready to prove his worth, partially because recruiting services devalued him late. He’s not Sammy, who stands 6-1, or his father, who made it to 6-2. But Watkins carries himself like he’s 7-feet tall.
He arrived at last year’s Florida-Ole Miss game with a camera following him for another “day in the life” video, performing a “gator chomp” with his arms that transitioned into two emphatic thumbs down.
When the Rebels won, Watkins dragged the team’s famed basketball hoop from the sideline to midfield for postgame dunks.
“We have a bye week,” Watkins told his cameraman as he sat in Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy’s apartment postgame, “and then we back on (their butt).”
Just over a week after that video was posted to YouTube, Kiffin was on his way to Baton Rouge. Watkins soon would follow.
Winnie vs. Sammy’s squad
Watkins arrived in Baton Rouge with the most experience of any receiver in the LSU offense, thanks to his freshman year at Ole Miss. He eagerly prepared for the opener against Clemson, reserving a ticket for Sammy so he could watch his cousin versus his alma mater.
LSU inside receivers coach Sawyer Jordan, who helped recruit Watkins to Ole Miss, also happens to be a Clemson alum.
“That's my first time ever playing Clemson, and I don't know whenever I may play them again,” Watkins said. “I wanted to maximize my opportunity … and just ball out.”
Sammy couldn’t physically be in Tiger Stadium last weekend because he was busy being the receivers coach at Ocoee High School just outside of Orlando, Florida.
He was able to watch, though, as his cousin put on a clinic.
Early in the game, Watkins motioned across the line of scrimmage, took a jet sweep, put his hand on LSU running back Dilin Jones’ back and guided him into a clash with a Clemson defender like a human shield. That gained 14 yards.
Watkins then burrowed his way into the softest spots of the Clemson defense, catching a curl route and a drag across the middle. He was targeted 11 times, twice as many as any other LSU receiver.
In the middle of the third quarter, he knew he was about to score. LSU receiver Eugene Wilson motioned to Watkins’ side of the field and a safety followed him. It was man-to-man coverage, as Weis anticipated when he changed the play pre-snap.
Watkins bent his route toward the corner of the end zone, but the safety and the nickelback both went with Wilson. Watkins raised his hand, alerting quarterback Sam Leavitt, fewer than 10 yards into his sprint.
“I just threw my hand up and took it, because I knew, if you hesitate, I'm going to just beat you with speed,” Watkins said of a 32-yard touchdown grab that increased the pain for Sammy’s alma mater.
The confidence of the youngest Watkins never has waned, even if recruiting services slid him down the 2025 rankings. Miami receiver Malachi Toney was rated a three-star prospect in the same class, and that projection isn’t looking so good, either.
What looks really good is Watkins in this scheme. He had a phone call with his cousin Sammy a couple of days after LSU's 51-10 blowout of Clemson.
“He was laughing about it because, shoot, he didn't realize it was going to be like that,” Watkins said. “Now I get to talk trash at Thanksgiving with Sammy.”