In his first season as an assistant coach with the Indiana State football team is Steve Watson. Watson works with the Sycamore wide receivers.
Watson enjoyed a nine-year National Football League career from 1979-1987 with the Denver Broncos. He caught 353 career passes professionally for 6,112 yards and 36 touchdowns. Watson is also one of the most popular players in team history. He
played wide receiver for Denver, finishing his career with
353 receptions for 6,112 yards (17.3 avg) and 36 touchdowns. He ranks
fifth on the Broncos' career list for receiving yards, seventh in
receptions and eighth in touchdown receptions.
Watson was a Pro Bowl selection in 1981 and was a member of Denver squads that played in Super Bowl XXI (1986) and XXII (1987).
He had three 1,000-yard receiving seasons (1981, 1983, 1984). In 1981, he
tallied career-best numbers for receiving yardage (1,244), touchdowns
(13) and yards per reception (20.7). He pulled down a single-season best
69 receptions in 1984. Watson totaled 16 100-yard receiving games and
had a streak of 49 games with at least one reception during his career.
In 1993, Watson was elected to the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall Of Fame. Watson coached with the Broncos from 2001-2008. He was a
defensive assistant in 2001 and 2002, before moving over to the
offensive side of the ball. Watson was Denver's wide receivers coach
from 2003-2006. He held the title of associate head coach from
2007-2008. Watson and Brewster were on the Denver coaching staff
together in 2005 and 2006.
In his four seasons as wide receivers coach, Watson helped three
different players record a total of four 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
Rod Smith (2004, 2005), Ashley Lelie (2004) and Javon Walker (2006) all
had 1,000-yard receiving seasons under Watson's tutelage.
Smith
was a Pro Bowl selection in 2005. Lelie led the NFL in yards per
reception average in 2004 (20.1 ypr) and 2005 (18.3). Walker had a
1,000-yard receiving season just one season after missing all but one
game with an ACL injury.
Under Watson's guidance, the Broncos'
wide receivers helped Denver to a No. 6 ranking in passing offense in
2004. The 3,999 yards Denver passed for that season was the fourth-most
in franchise history. The Broncos' offense ranked in the top 10 in the
NFL in total offense in three of the four years that Watson coached the
receivers.
In 2010, Watson moved on to Minnesota, where he worked the Golden Gopher wide receivers.
Watson joined the Broncos as a free agent from Temple University in
1979. He was a four-year letterman with the Owls and played in the
East-West Shrine Game to close out his career. He also earned three
letters and won two conference championships as a long jumper on the
Temple track and field team. Watson graduated from Temple with a degree
in parks administration.
The Baltimore native was born May 28,
1957. Watson was a three-sport star at St. Mark's High School in
Wilmington, Del. He and his wife Pam have two daughters (Brittany, 25
and Rachel, 22) and a son (Stephen Ross Jr., 23). Their son played
defensive end for the University of Michigan.
