Watson, Johnson's career days fuel MSU victory over Southern Miss.
Nathaniel Watson and Jett Johnson both made it clear what kind of legacy they intend to leave at Mississippi State on Saturday, head coaching changes or not.
Watson finished with 21 tackles on the afternoon, a career high for the senior linebacker who decided to return to Mississippi State despite shooting up draft boards late last fall. Now leading the SEC in sacks, Watson has cemented himself as one of the most memorable Bulldog defenders of the modern era due to his deep commitment to the Maroon and White.
Watson, a native of Maplesville, Alabama, was recruited to Mississippi State as a tight end, and now with one game left in his Bulldog career, he’s playing his best football on the defensive end. His counterpart, Johnson, is playing just as well, too.
Johnson is a lifelong Bulldog fan and is celebrated in his hometown of Tupelo. He also had a career high 18 tackles to go with a career highlight on an interception-turned-lateral to Marcus Banks that sealed the game away for Mississippi State.
Johnson spoke about the play after the game, and even he admitted that looking back, it probably wasn’t the one he should have made. However, it was still the right one.
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“Honestly, hindsight is 20/20, it was kind of a dumb play,” Johnson said laughing, “but I was just in the moment. I thanked Marcus Banks in the locker room, I was like ‘thank you for catching that ball.’ I told him, I guess instinctually, I was just trying to get that guy off of me…(me and Marcus) made eye contact, so I knew he was looking at me.”
During the course of this week, since it was announced that former head coach Zach Arnett was fired, interim head coach Greg Knox said that Johnson and Watson have been at the forefront of the team’s efforts to bounce back.
“It doesn’t surprise me because all week long, those two have been the two up front leading this team. “They came to work every day this week and they took others with them,” Knox said, “so it doesn’t surprise me when they play like that. When you work like that good things happen.”
Johnson and Watson have one more game left in their careers at Mississippi State – the Egg Bowl. Mississippi State will not be favored, even with the game being in Starkville, but for the pair of Bulldog linebackers, that might just be the kind of environment they want. After all, what do they have to lose?
