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Nathaniel Watson shares interesting motivation behind stellar performance vs. Arkansas
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Nathaniel Watson had an impressive performance in Mississippi State’s 7-3 victory at Arkansas last weekend. It turns out the linebacker found inspiration from the king of the jungle.
Watson finished with 14 tackles and 2 sacks to help the Bulldogs (4-3) climb back over .500. During a recent appearance on the SEC Network’s Out of Pocket, the senior explained how an early morning of lion videos helped him roar in the game.
"My lion mentality kicked in." @HailStateFB LB Bookie Watson said he watched videos of lions hunting for motivation before the win over Arkansas ?? pic.twitter.com/c97h7Q3m9M
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 26, 2023
“My mentality really was just I woke up and you can ask my teammates, around 4 or 5 in the morning. I was just watching lion videos that whole morning,” Watson said. “Just watching lions attack.”
As 1 of the leaders of the team, Watson made sure the lion approach permeated throughout the defense.
“When we did our little walkthrough before getting on the bus, I had called the defense up,” Watson said. “I was like ‘Let’s go out here and get back to the real Mississippi State defense. Show the lion mentality. Go out and put our foot on their neck.’ It really was just my lion mentality that kicked in. I’m just grateful to have them guys join me with that mentality.”
Watson certainly has played ferociously this season, with 7.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception.
“I had a little quote on my phone that I post before games,” Watson said. “It’ll be like what does a lion do in the jungle when it’s hungry? It said eat. So I just played that back in my head over and over.”
Next up for Mississippi State is a road contest at Auburn on Saturday (3:30 p.m. EST/SEC Network).
