Dayquan Watkins
Dayquan Watkins
SKYLAND – Dayquan Watkins pushes people around.
And despite what you’ve heard, that’s not a bad thing, especially for Watkins’ line of work.
The Roberson senior lineman has 20 pancake blocks for his team with the best record (5-1, 1-0) in Buncombe County football. He is Western North Carolina’s only pick to the Dec. 17 Shrine Bowl in Spartanburg, S.C.
Shrine Bowl rosters were released on Monday.
“It’s a big accomplishment, I’m just really honored to be in this game,” Watkins said.
“We’re happy (at Roberson about being 5-1), but we’re taking it step-by-step. We’re anxious to play again.”
Watkins is a 6-foot-7, 340-pound senior for a team that has already won two more games than it did all of last season.
“Dayquan is a great young man and I’ve really enjoyed getting the chance to know him,” first-year Rams coach J.D. Dinwiddie said.
“We knew the Shrine Bowl coaches liked him. This is such a great honor for his family and our school. He’s a kid that his super-proud and super-humble.”
Watkins’ blocking has allowed sophomore Ty Gossett (1,256 yards and nine touchdowns with nine interceptions) to become the youngest quarterback in WNC to reach 1,000 yards this season.
Murphy’s David Gentry is the head coach for this year’s North Carolina Shrine Bowl team. He has won a WNC record 371 career games. Gentry indicated that he would have picked a second Roberson player — senior kicker/punter Cooper Graham, had Graham not transferred to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
As of Monday morning, stats had not been updated on MaxPreps for the latest game played by the undefeated Ascenders (5-0). But through four games, Graham had made 20 of his 21 extra-point attempts and both his field goals tries, with a long of 37 yards.
Nineteen of Graham’s 25 kickoffs have been touchbacks. He has punted 11 times with an average of 35.9 yards.
At the moment, IMG is the country’s No. 2 team in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings.
Graham was a kicker/punter for Roberson on the 2015 Citizen-Times All-WNC team. The All-Mountain Athletic Conference selection averaged 38.4 yards per punt with four balls kicked inside the 20-yard line. He had 35 touchbacks on kickoffs and six field goals with a long of 37 yards.
Roberson’s next game is Oct. 7 at home against North Buncombe.
Here is the complete North Carolina Shrine Bowl roster:
Christian Beal #1 – RB – East Forsyth High School
Jayden Borders – #6 – WR – Shelby High School
Jack Bowler – #50 – OL – Cardinal Gibbons High School
Matthew Butler – #40 – DL – Garner Magnet High School
Josiah Carlton #26 – OLB – Ronald Reagan High School
Madison Cone – #33 – DB – East Forsyth High School
Jarius Cotton – #42 – DB – Hibriten High School
Matthew Curry – #62 – OL – Hillside High School
Jaylin Dickerson – #19 – DB – Pinecrest High School
Cameron Dollar – #84 – WR – East Lincoln High School
Eric Douglas – #64 – OL – Mallard Creek High School
Stone Edwards – #79 – DL – Orange County High School
Emeka Emezie – #82 – WR – Marvin Ridge High School
D’Mitri Emmanuel – #78 – OL – Marvin Ridge High School
Brelin Faison-Walden – #20 – DB – Grimsley High School
Caleb Farley – #3 – WR – Maiden High School
Justin Foster – #35 – OLB – Crest High School
Xach Gill – #99 – DL – Wake Forest High School
Noah Giroux – #90 – K/P – Garner Magnet High School
Sherrod Greene – #20 – ILB – Rocky Mount High School
Mitch Hall – #53 – LS – Clayton High School
Thomas Hennigan – #7 – WR – Northwest Guilford HighSchool
Darius Hodge – #46 – ILB – Wake Forest High School
Brock Hoffman – #71 – OL – Statesville High School
Hendon Hooker – #10 – QB – Dudley High School
Chris Ingram – #22 – DB – Mooresville High School
Curtis Isaac – #51 – DL – Richmond County High School
Isaiah Jones – #52 – DL – West Forsyth High School
Will Jones – #15 – QB – Page High School
Jake Lawler – #85 – OLB – South Mecklenburg High School
Javon Leake – #2 – RB – Page High School
Fabian McDonald – #36 – WR – South Johnston High School
Trajan McQueen – #37 – ILB – West Mecklenburg High School
T.J. Moore – #63 – OL – Mallard Creek High School
Hamsah Nasrildeen – #9 – DB – Concord High School
Ben Norris – #24 – ILB – Myers Park High School
Darius Pinnix II – #48 – ATH – Western Alamance High School
Darien Reynolds – #32 – OLB – Vance High School
Larry Roundtree III – #34 – RB – Millbrook High School
DayQuan Watkins #75 – OL – T.C. Roberson High School
Jomaious Williams – #70 – DL – New Hanover High School
Torrence Williams – #80 – DL – Walter Williams High School
DeQuondre Wilson – #28 – DB – Crest High School
Dacquari Wilson – #54 – OL – Dudley High School
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