For the better part of the 2011 season, Jaylen Watkins wasn’t the best football player in his family. Sammy Watkins, his half-brother, earned All-America honors as a freshman wide receiver for Clemson.
Jaylen, a junior cornerback for Florida, finished last season without recording an interception.
A two-game suspension and a shoulder sprain have sidelined Sammy for three games, leaving the family spotlight on Jaylen, who has been more successful on the field in 2012.
Jaylen leads the Gators with two interceptions, including a second-quarter pick against LSU quarterback Zach Mettenberger on Saturday.
The brothers exchange text messages before and after games to motivate each other.
“[Sammy] knew from working out with me that I was capable of doing all that,” Jaylen said of his performance so far in 2012. “He’s just ready to see it happen even more.”
With experience comes intelligence for Jaylen.
The junior from Cape Coral increased his workload in the meeting room from previous seasons, which has put him in better positions to generate turnovers.
In Florida’s win against Kentucky, Watkins slid under the intended receiver to pick off a Morgan Newton pass for his first career interception. Watkins said he wouldn’t have made that play last season.
“I didn’t have the knowledge of the game,” Watkins said.
“Watching film and being a self-evaluator and saying I could have did this better. I think all of us have done that this year, so that’s why everybody is making plays.”
Florida finished last season ranked 113th in turnover margin, but UF ranks 19th through five games this season.
The Gators have 10 takeaways: three fumble recoveries and seven interceptions.
UF intercepted only eight passes all of last season.
While Watkins’ film sessions have helped him this season, he has gone up against his All-America brother his entire life.
“It evens out sometimes,” he said.
“Sometimes, he gets me. Sometimes, I get him.”
Gators to face versatile quarterback: Jordan Rodgers is the little brother to NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers, but the Gators know him as the pesky, dual-threat quarterback from Vanderbilt.
The Commodores came within five points of upsetting the Gators during UF’s homecoming game last season in Gainesville.
Rodgers amassed 297 yards passing and two touchdowns while adding 20 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
“He hurt us with his legs last year, and he hurt us throwing the ball,” Muschamp said on Monday. “We had some pass-rush issues last year as far as discipline was concerned up front and keeping him in the pocket, but he was also accurate with the football.”
Rodgers has another shot at Florida on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.
The redshirt senior is averaging 35.2 yards of total offense more per game than Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel.
Only one of Rodgers’ carries against the Gators last season went for negative yards, but he lost 21 yards on two sacks.
Three of his 13 rushing attempts went for 8 yards or more.
“They can run the ball, they can throw the ball and they’ve got a mobile quarterback,” linebacker Jon Bostic said.
“We’ve got to keep the quarterback contained. We can’t let him get out of the pocket like we did last year. We’ve got to be able to stop the run.”
Contact Adam Pincus at apincus@alligator.org.
Junior cornerback Jaylen Watkins returns a second quarter interception during Florida's 14-6 win against LSU on Saturday in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Watkins leads the Gators with two interceptions.
