Twenty-Two Names to Know for the Ole Miss Season: No. 10 Jordan Watkins
OXFORD, Miss. – As we lead up to week one in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the kickoff of Ole Miss football’s 2024 season, The Rebel Walk team is highlighting one player each day. We’ll break down who they are, how they got here and what we expect from each.
Today, we take a look at the No. 10 player on our list, WR Jordan Watkins.
There’s been a constant theme of pass catchers on this list and the trend continues today with the addition of Jordan Wakins to our list. The fifth-year senior looks to have another impactful year with Jaxson Dart while competing for targets in an Ole Miss wide receiver room that returns some core pieces and brought in five transfers.
How did Jordan Watkins arrive at Ole Miss?
Growing up, Watkins was from Russell County, Kentucky. In Jordan’s middle school years, the Watkins family moved to Louisville. Early on in his high school prep career, Watkins attended DeSales High School where he shined on the football field. As a sophomore, he actually led the school in rushing. That year he rushed for 8.2 yards per carry with 742 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Watkins would then transfer to Butler High School, where he began to be more versatile as a pass catcher and rusher. In his senior season, Watkins recorded 37 catches for 712 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns while also adding 212 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground.
Watkins also was a star in track and field where as a sophomore he set the school record for the 100m dash in 2018 at 10.97. His recruitment was slow despite finishing as one of the top players in Kentucky for the class of 2020. After originally committing to the University of Kentucky, Watkins would flip to sign for Scott Satterfield and Louisville.
As a freshman, Watkins logged time in 8 games, grabbing 8 catches for 57 yards and recording one rush for 23 yards which was his only touchdown of his freshman year. With Tutu Atwell off to the NFL, Watkins saw an immediate spike in production his sophomore season. A field stretcher and big playmaker, he recorded 35 catches for 530 yards and 4 TDs as a sophomore — including 4 catches and 35 receiving yards against the Rebels to start the season in 2021.
After entering the transfer portal in late November, Watkins was offered by Ole Miss in December and visited shortly after. On December 21st, Watkins committed to Ole Miss.
Career Outlook
Watkins has had a strong connection with QB Jaxson Dart since both of them arrived to Ole Miss prior to the 2022 season. The two are close and have been seen at basketball games and hosting on visits together. On the field, the two have a connection as well. In his two seasons at Ole Miss, Watkins has recorded 93 catches for 1190 receiving yards and 5 TDs.
Going into his third season, Watkins is now the most productive returning receiver in the Ole Miss room (in terms of production at Ole Miss).
In his first season at Ole Miss, Watkins exploded for seven catches and 117 yards in a win on the road in SEC play against Vanderbilt.
Jaxson Dart 🎯 to Jordan Watkins for a 61 yard TD!
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) October 8, 2022
He would finish the season strong with 4 catches for 45 yards and a touchdown against Texas Tech in the bowl game.
Last year in 2023, Watkins had several high-volume games. He eclipsed the 100-yard mark three times, and hauled in a career 9 receptions against Alabama.
Heading into 2024
As we’ve mentioned with plenty of other position groups, Ole Miss has brought in a lot of new names to the wide receiver room. With those changes, Watkins remains a familiar name. Given his chemistry with Dart, and productive time in the Ole Miss offense, Watkins will have a strong role for this group.
Ole Miss lists Watkins at 5’11 and 200 lbs. While Ole Miss may think of Watkins as a smooth route runner, his speed is second-to-none on this roster. Watkins has recorded a 4.38 40-yd dash, not to mention the 10.97 100m from earlier. There is serious serious speed here.
We are Jordan Watkins days away from the return of Rebel football…@jordantwatkins
pic.twitter.com/wSTXKpdhPl— Barstool Ole Miss (@BarstoolOleMiss) August 20, 2024
Watkins will have value in his ability to threaten the defense with explosive plays. In 2021, his longest catch was 76 yards. In 2022, it was 61 yards, and in 2023 it was 68 yards. He averages a career 13.6 yards per catch.
There’s going to be a lot of mouths to feed but the threat of Watkins on the field with a lot of these other players can create a lot of positive plays for the Ole Miss offense. With Watkins’ ability to stretch the field and having to pull a safety in doing so, he’ll open up a lot of space for others as well. Another area we could see Watkins in is crossing routes across the field where in man coverages he can try to outrun corners horizontally.
With all these guys and only so many passes coming everyone’s way, it would be unreasonable to try and predict how much volume a player could get. However, Watkins’ experience, prior production, and traits all show a large value for this Ole Miss team.
Camp Notes
Ole Miss has been exercising some level of caution with Jordan. Today, for example, he was seen working on the stationary bike. He’s also been seen throughout camp at times participating in drills, but not in many contact situations we have watched since week one of camp. Keep in mind, however, that the media has had a limited amount of viewing time, so we can only speak to the time we are allowed to observe. But regardless, we all know what Jordan can do — and we look for him to pick right back up as soon as he’s back on the field this season. Hotty Toddy!
TJ Oxley
TJ Oxley is the Vice President of Operations and the Director of Community Relations for The Rebel Walk. He is also the Director of Basketball Content and Senior Basketball Writer. He has over five years of experience providing in-depth analysis of college basketball through multiple platforms. A former MBA graduate of Ole Miss, TJ started with The Rebel Walk in 2019.
