Michigan State fans have anticipated this moment for months. With NCAA recruiting, you never want to count your chickens before they hatch. When 4-star prospect Rocket Watts committed to Michigan State in the fall, we all expected to get to this point, but you never want to spike the football before you score a touchdown (I have plenty of analogies for this situation.)
However, that all changed today, as ESPN’s #29 prospect of 2019, Mark “Rocket” Watts Jr., officially signed to Michigan State. He is listed as the #32 ranked prospect by 247Sports, which would make him Tom Izzo’s 12th highest ranked recruit ever (rankings started in 2003 with Shannon Brown). He is ranked just behind Cassius Winston, who, presumably, would be his running mate for one season.
It will be really interesting to see how Tom Izzo utilizes Rocket Watts. I could easily see Izzo running out a three-guard lineup at times, with Cassius Winston, Josh Langford, and Rocket on the court together. That would give them one of the most explosive offensive teams in the country if Rocket can hold his own on defense.
Likely, he will mirror a similar role to Jason Richardson did in 1999-2000. Microwave scorer off the bench who can give any player from 1-3 a rest.
Either way, it’ll definitely be fun to see what Izzo can do with another highly ranked prospect in his rotation.
