Nakia Watson, Washington State Football News: Draft Scout Player News

11/19/22 - RB Nakia Watson, rSr/2024, Washington State

Nakia Watson scored two touchdowns and Washington State intercepted former quarterback Jayden de Laura four times in a 31-20 Pac-12 road victory over Arizona on Saturday. Watson scored on a 4-yard pass from Cameron Ward in the first quarter and on a 2-yard run in the second, giving him six scores in the past three games. He finished with 86 all-purpose yards for the Cougars (7-4, 4-4 Pac-12). De Laura, who transferred from WSU in January, was 28 of 46 for 357 yards with a rushing and passing TD. He was the 2021 Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year with the Cougars and threw four TD passes against Arizona (4-7, 2-6) last November. Ward was 25 of 36 for 193 yards and a TD and ran for a season-high 59 yards including a 17-yard TD. He entered the game with eight rushing yards all season.

WSU led 21-6 at the half and extended that lead by picking off de Laura on three consecutive possessions. Sam Lockett III returned an interception to the Arizona 19, setting up Dean Janikowski's 23-yard field goal with 4:45 left in the third quarter, and Derrick Langford Jr. picked off de Laura and returned it 35 yards for the TD and a 31-6 lead 36 seconds later. Lockett got his second pick with 1:13 left in the third, diving for an overthrow at the WSU 4. The Cougars went up 7-0 less than four minutes into the game on Watson's TD catch, then made it 14-0 midway through the second quarter on a 17-yard Ward keeper. After Arizona cut the deficit to 18 on a 38-yard Tyler Loop field goal, WSU made it 21-3 on a 2-yard Watson TD run. The Wildcats made it a two-score game at the break with a 47-yard Loop field goal. Arizona failed to score in the first quarter for the first time in 2022, going without a TD in the first half for the first time since last season's finale. Both its TDs came in the fourth quarter, including a 47-yard scoring catch by Dorian Singer, who had nine receptions for 176 yards. - Washington State/AP College Football

rSr/2024