Jelani Watkins is already in Baton Rouge for summer workouts with the LSU football program. The wide receiver product has plenty of accomplishments ahead of him.
However, he added another accolade this morning with the announcement from Gatorade that he is the Texas boys Player of the Year.
After transferring from Klein Forest to Humble Atascocita, Watkins immediately showed he was a difference maker. With major contributions from his teammates, the Atascocita 4x100 relay dominated the season, the clock, and the history record books.
The sprinter anchored Atascocita to not only breaking, but shattering the national record that stood for 26 years. They became the only high school team to ever run under 39-seconds with their all-time best run of 38.92.
Watkins had plenty of individual success as well. He won the UIL 6A 200m at the state meet for the third consecutive season and added a 20.56 (+2.9) season best.
A new event was added to his resume when he began to seriously compete in the 100m this season. The end result was another state title and a US No. 2 wind legal ranking at 10.19.
In the classroom, Watkins maintained a 3.12 grade point average.
Outside of school and sports, he organized help to assemble kits of necessities and meals for the homeless community in Houston. Watkins was a member of the school Student Athlete Leadership Council, and helped mentor elementary students throughout the school year as well as donated time as a volunteer at the local elementary school field day activities.
