Academics convinced Watts that Nebraska was the place for him
Plano (Texas) East defensive tackle Deiontae Watts was one of four uncommitted official visitors to Nebraska over the weekend, but he did not leave Lincoln before giving the NU staff his verbal commitment.
The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder also had scholarship offers from USC, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Ole Miss and numerous other schools, but he didn't think any other college could measure up to Nebraska's level of academic support for their student athletes.
"We were going through a tour of the academic place and that really impressed me," Watts stated as his primary reason for pledging to Nebraska. "How they have all the tutors and academic support, so it was the academic part of it."
Both of his parents came with him to Lincoln on his unofficial visit and they were equally sold on Nebraska's whole academic and life skills support system for their son.
"It was the same thing with them. They were really impressed with the academic support."
Watts arrived in Omaha with his mom and dad on Friday, and they stayed through Sunday brunch, at which he announced his commitment to the Huskers' head coach and defensive line coach.
"I'm extremely comfortable with Coach (John) Parrella," Watts shared. "He's easy to talk to and very laid back. He's always honest with you. I was talking with Coach Parrella at brunch Parrella about how this place is such a good place.
"I told him I was really liking this place and he was like, 'You know, the spots are limited,' but he didn't pressure me into doing it or anything. I just knew that it was right from the beginning, so I told him we liked it the best academically of any school we had visited.
"So I talked it over with my mom in the hall and she also thought that it looks like the best for me because of all the help I would have with my academics. So we went back into where we were eating brunch in the dining room and told Coach (Mike) Riley that I was committing. Everybody in there was excited."
Watts said that the Husker coaches told him they will probably be taking three defensive tackle signees in this Class of 2017.
The three-star Watts' player host was redshirting freshman defensive end Collin Miller and he received the full red carpet tour while he was on campus.
"We toured the whole campus, saw the weight room, and also their performance center and sports science lab." Watts said. "We also saw the dorms and such and hung out with a few of the players.
"Collin and I got along just great. He was pretty cool. We actually hung out with a lot of the other players and played Xbox and got to know each other a little better."
Nebraska's consecutive sellout streak also impressed Watts and his parents, as did the victory over the Ducks.
"The loyalty of the fans with 350 consecutive sellouts for their games tells you a lot about their fans," Watts stated. "The connectivity on their team was like everybody was a brotherhood.
"I believed that they actually could beat Oregon because Oregon runs a fast paced offense. You know, it was kind of impressive to see them keep up with it. I thought Nebraska's defensive line was really aggressive. What I really like about their defense is how Coach Parrella got them working."
Watts is the second interior defensive line recruit and the 15th overall prospect to commit to Nebraska's Class of 2017.