By Harry Minium
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – When he sits down for an interview, you realize that Blake Watson isn't that big a guy, certainly not as big as he plays in an Old Dominion football jersey.
At 5-foot-9, 193 pounds, he hardly looks like the running back who, when corralled by a 300-pound defensive lineman, breaks a tackle, then stiff-arms a linebacker and squirms and squeezes out every last possible inch.
Watson became only the second player in ODU history to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season this year, and he did it the hard way. Although he's got deft open-field moves, he gained many of his 1,035 yards in battering-ram like fashion.
"He's got a toughness and fearlessness that when you see him off the field you just wouldn't expect," said Tony Lucas, ODU's running backs coach.
Watson played a key role in ODU's late-season run, when the Monarchs won their final five games to finish 6-6 and become bowl eligible. He rushed for more than 100 yards in four of those victories, including 106 yards and two touchdowns in ODU's final game, a 56-34 victory over Charlotte.
That victory propelled ODU into the Myrtle Beach Bowl, where the Monarchs meet Tulsa Monday at 2:30 p.m. at Coastal Carolina University's Brooks Field.
During the midst of that run, Watson made it clear he wasn't running for himself. He was doing it for ODU's seniors, especially sixth-year seniors Jordan Young and
Joe Joe Headen, who are his roommates and have never played in a bowl game.
"It's their last year," he said following a victory over Florida Atlantic. "I want them to have a winning season. I want them to go to a bowl game. I want them to go out on top."
Headen smiled when he heard what Watson said.
"That doesn't surprise me at all," he said. "Blake is such a good guy."
That comes from his family, especially his parents, Carlton and Alexis, who have worked hard, sacrificed and focused their lives on their two sons, including Brad, who is four years older than Blake.
"I take my hat off to them," Lucas said. "Family is so important to them. They're such great parents."
Carlton and Alexis met at, of all places, the infamous Rikers Island, the mammoth jail complex for New York City located on an island between Queens and Bronx that houses 10,000 prisoners on any given day.
They were both correctional officers who met nearly three decades ago. They were single, had a passion for law enforcement, a deep Christian faith and felt an instant chemistry.
They've been married for 27 years and they've given their all for their sons.
They lived in Queens and managed their schedules so that someone could always be with their sons, who immediately took to athletics – football, baseball and basketball.
Working at Rikers was "a tough job," said Alexis but added: "It paid well and we were able to support our family with our income."
Both boys eventually gravitated toward football. And when Carlton and Alexis retired, they decided to pull up stakes and move their sons to Austin, Texas.
It helped that Texas doesn't tax retirement income. But the main reason they moved was to give their boys a better life.
"When we retired, we were kind of looking at the Friday Night Lights thing," Carlton said of the book, movie and TV show that reveled in the oversized importance of high school football in the Lone Star State.
"When we went to Austin, and when we saw real estate prices and what the schools there are doing, we were sold."
Alexis said football was not a major factor.
"We wanted to take our boys someplace different, to a different environment than New York," she said. "Somewhere safe, somewhere we thought they could really achieve."
Blake went to a year of elementary school and then to middle school in Austin. Then, when his brother accepted a football scholarship at Wake Forest, the family moved again, to Green Hope, North Carolina. Carlson and Alexis wanted to see Brad play, and also wanted to be closer to family, both in New York and the tar heel state.
Carlton and Alexis work for the Durham County public schools as teacher's assistants and enjoy traveling to every ODU football game.
Blake said moving twice in such a short time forced him to grow up.
"It taught me to make new friends and meet new people," he said. "But it was definitely weird. The way people talk in Texas, that was hard to get used to.
"Moving around taught me that I can live in any environment."
Watson came to ODU in 2018, when the Monarchs upset nationally ranked Virginia Tech but finished 4-8. He played in three games at wide receiver and on special teams while redshirting.
He was one of the few bright spots for the Monarchs in 2019, when ODU finished 1-11. He made the Conference USA All-Freshman team as a kick returner, with 24 returns for an average of 26.4 yards, and caught 13 passes for 79 yards at wide receiver and running back.
But he also carried the ball 25 times for 116 yards and a touchdown. After a new coaching staff took over at the end of the 2019 season, Watson was eventually moved permanently to running back.
Football is a tough game for everyone involved, but especially so for running backs. Nobody else on the field routinely takes such a physical pounding as do the guys who lower their heads and plow into defenders.
"I know I'm going to get hit on every single play," Watson said. "But it's a job I'm willing to do. I put my body on the line for my teammates.
"No one wants to do a blitz pickup. Who wants to stop a linebacker running at you full speed with a five-yard head start?
"But it's something you have to do to help your team. You have to do it to win games."
Head coach Ricky Rahne began spring practice earlier this year by telling his players that there is a difference between being injured and enduring pain. Watson missed two games this season with injuries.
Through most of the rest, he's endured pain.
"That comes with the territory," Lucas said. "With most guys, you never truly know how much pain they're playing through."
Watson said he never would have played in 10 games were in not for head athletic trainer Justin Walker and assistant athletic trainer Angela Moening, who treated every bruise, pulled muscle and ache and pain.
Alexis said she sometimes cringes when she sees her son buried underneath 1,000 pounds of defensive players.
"At this point, I'm used to it," she said. "I'm always waiting for him to get up.
"Of course, I pray. I'm a praying mom. And when he gets up, it doesn't mean he's not hurting. But he picks himself up and tries to keep going."
The Watsons will bring more than 40 family members and friends to Myrtle Beach Monday. It's only a few hours from Durham, and family and friends are packing into cars and vans.
"We're just so proud of Blake," Carlson said. "He was a wide receiver and now is running the ball so well. He's worked so hard."
When reminded of what he said about his roommates after the victory over FAU, Blake said winning against Tulsa is just as important as making it into the bowl game.
"I know what we did this season, winning our last five games, was amazing," he said. "I'm proud of what we did.
"But winning that bowl game would be the icing on the cake. I want to win that game as much as I've ever wanted to win any game."
Minium: Blake Watson Broke the 1,000-yard Mark the Hard Way for ODU Football Team
