OSU Recruiting: What Marcus Watson’s Commitment Means for the Cowboys

Oklahoma State added another commitment to their already impressive 2019 class on Sunday in four-star wing Marcus Watson. The addition of Watson pushed the Cowboys into the top 10 in terms of 2019 recruiting classes per 247Sports. I wanted to dive a little deeper into what this commitment means for the Cowboys.

Background

Heading into Watston’s commitment announcement on Sunday night, all signs were pointing to Georgia Tech. The Buford, Georgia product was the top priority for Yellow Jacket head coach Josh Pastner, and with Pastner’s recent struggles to land high quality in-state recruits, he was a “must have” commitment for GT.  Two of the three Crystal Ball predictions on 247Sports were in favor of Georgia Tech, with the lone pick for Oklahoma State coming from GoPokes.com’s Zach Lancaster. Additionally, up until yesterday, there was only one publisher vote for OSU on Rivals.com, and no analyst had picked Stillwater as Watson’s landing spot.

It didn’t help that Watson was spotted at Georgia Tech’s “Live at the Thrillerdome”, held inside the Yellow Jackets’ McCamish Pavilion, the Friday before he was set to announce his commitment.

Goat sighting @BigTime_MW #GoJackets pic.twitter.com/7nzwimsVMl

— Wages Carroll (@wagescarroll82) October 20, 2018

However, coach Boynton struck again as Watson let the public know Sunday night he will be continuing his career at Oklahoma State. Watson noted his trust in Boynton as one of the main reasons he choose to play his college ball in Stillwater.

“I chose Oklahoma State due to the fact that coach Mike is a coach that I can trust. He’s never told me something that, this is what you got. You have to come here and earn it, and I have the utmost respect for him. I’ve learned that nothing in life is going to be given to you, you have to come get what you want. And he said you have to come here and earn your spot and work hard. Just do what you’re supposed to do and you’ll have success in our program. He never tried to sell the program too me. He was honest and the whole nine. He did everything the right way. He’s a coach I can trust and I know I want to play for. ” [HoopSeen.com]

He’s currently No. 69 nationally according to 247Sports’ Composite rankings and Rivals.com has him ranked 84th.

What He Brings to the Table

First off, the 6-6, 205-pound wing has insane hops, which allows him to do things like this.

He is very aggressive off the dribble and finishes strong at the rim. He’ll use his bounce to go over the top of you, but he also possesses the body control to go around defenders on his way to the bucket.

Watson has steadily improved his jump shot throughout his high school career, and he’s become a fairly consistent shooter from the outside. It’s something he will need to continue working on at OSU, but you can tell he has the potential to be deadly from distance.

He carries his aggressiveness on offense over to the defensive end as well. I would say he’s a good, not great defender, and has room to grow at the next level. Additionally, he’s a solid rebounder for a wing.

If I had to make an NBA comparison, I would go with Jason Richardson. A guy who is extremely explosive and can jump out the gym, but also has the ability to knock it down from the outside (as Richardson was a 37 percent career 3-point shooter).

Excitement Level

Watson is the 13th highest rated recruit in Oklahoma State history. That sentence alone should tell you what your excitement level should be as an Oklahoma State fan. He’s also one of the favorites to win Georgia’s Gatorade Player of the Year. The same award that this year’s No. 7 pick in the NBA draft Wendell Carter Jr. won in 2017 and Boston Celtics’ starter Jaylen Brown (who is another good player comparison for Watson) won in 2015.

Watson’s commitment makes Boynton’s 2019 class the best in OSU’s history in terms of average prospect rating. Again, that sentence by itself could break the excitement meter for a Cowboy supporter.

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