Former Southern Miss Golden Eagle Quez Watkins was taken 32 spots after John Hightower, but don’t be surprised if he’s talked about more often as we head towards the regular season. Both should have been on your top-25 lists of the best wide receivers available if you had one, Both might have been graded higher if they had played versus better competition.
It’s hard to call what they saw in the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA “elite competition”
Still, even with all of that being said, Watkins set the world on fire with his speed. During the draft, on ESPN, it was said that watching Watkins run was like watching “a speedboat pull away from canoes”. He ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash at the most recent NFL Scouting Combine, and he showcased a 36.5-inch vertical. He and Hightower are also very similar physically.
Watkins stands at six-feet tall compared to the six-foot-one Hightower. Watkins weighs 185 pounds while Hightower tips the scales at 189 pounds. What places Watkins slightly ahead of the man who got drafted higher is the fact that he’s faster, more experienced, and has the higher career totals. We’ll see if any of that shows up in the field when these guys put the pads on again.