SmashMouth

FSU commit Menelik Watson trades in the hardwood for the gridiron - Luke Winn - SI.com

He's going to FSU ...



No one was interested in Watson until Orellana saw him at a Christmastime basketball tournament in Manchester, England, in 2006. Orellana, a former assistant at Cal State-Fullerton who left for Spain and helped develop British NBA Draft pick Joel Freeland (taken at No. 30 by the Blazers in 2006) on Gran Canaria, was starting up the academy and looking for its first crop of players. Watson was a 6-4, 300-plus-pounder with decent feet who was about to graduate from Manchester's Burnage High.
Watson was worried about what might happen if he remained in his hometown. He was one of seven children raised by his mother, in a home where there was so little money to buy food that he sometimes resorted to eating butter or drinking ketchup packets. (He can no longer stomach ketchup, he says, due to the bad memories.) Three of his brothers had already turned to crime and spent time in prison. "I really had no options, no offers from prep schools," Watson said. "Rob was the one who took


Read more: FSU commit Menelik Watson trades in the hardwood for the gridiron - Luke Winn - SI.com

SapperSaint

That kid is a freakin MAN-CHILD! Good Lord...