Alex Watkins (born July 17, 1989) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He was a member of the Calgary Stampeders, Tennessee Titans and played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

Early years

Watkins played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

Haywood High School Haywood High School is a public high school located in Brownsville, Tennessee, originally built for the purpose of educating white students only. It is now the sole public high school in Haywood County. History From the start, two separate sch ...

in Brownsville, Tennessee. He committed to play for Alabama as part of

Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins ...

's first recruiting class as head coach of the Crimson Tide in January 2007.

College career

At Alabama, Watkins

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

the 2007 season and did not see any playing time for the 2008 season during his redshirt freshman year. During the 2009 season, Watkins appeared in three games as part of the squad that won the 2009

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

championship. Over his final two seasons with the Crimson Tide, Watkins played primarily as a reserve and on special teams in both the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2011 seasons. During the 2011 campaign, Watkins broke his arm in their game against

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He returned to the field in their next game after their

bye week In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round. In Tournament#Knockout, knockout (elimination) tournaments the ...

and played against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

with 23 staples and a plate in his left forearm.

College statistics

Professional career

In the days that followed the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, Watkins signed with the Tennessee Titans as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in April 2012. Watkins remained with the Titans through much of training camp before he was waived on August 10, 2012, after he sustained an ankle injury during practice. On March 11, 2013, Watkins was signed by the CFL's Calgary Stampeders. Watkins as later released by the Stampeders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Alex 1989 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide football players American football defensive linemen Calgary Stampeders players People from Brownsville, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee Tennessee Titans players Players of American football from Temple, Texas Florida Gators football coaches