On the Kansas University football roster, you’ll find two Amadis, two Heagganses and a pair of Joneses.
Those three same-name duos don’t win the Jayhawks’ multi-surname prize, though. That distinction belongs to the Watkinses. There are three of them and, at first glance, none of the three all third-year sophomores appear to be related.
Johnnie Watkins is a 5-foot-8, 175-pound defensive back from Kirkwood, Mo., who has battled injuries during his college career.
Brandon Watkins is a 6-2, 225-pound fullback from Dallas who has seen some duty on the special teams.
Travis Watkins is a 6-4, 270-pound defensive tackle from Derby who has started every game.
Two of the three Watkinses Travis and Brandon are related. Since KU has two sets of brothers in Donnie and Ronnie Amadi and Gary and Greg Heaggans, it would be natural to assume Travis and Brandon are brothers, too particularly since they room together.
But they aren’t.
“We’re cousins,” Travis said. “We live together and he’s my best friend, too. I think everybody knows we’re not brothers.”
Travis Watkins has been a mainstay on the Jayhawks’ defensive line. However, he aggravated a leg injury in the first half of last Saturday’s Texas A&M game and his availability for Saturday’s game at Missouri is uncertain.
Watkins was limping at mid-week, but he left no doubt about his status.
“I’m playing this weekend,” he said.
Watkins earned consensus all-state honors at Derby High as both a junior and a senior, but he doesn’t consider the Wichita suburb adjoining McConnell Air Force Base as his hometown.
Watkins was living with his mother at the time she was working at McConnell while his father was in Leavenworth. Today his parents are back together and live in the city with the famous federal prison and the ancient military fort.
“When I go home, I go to Leavenworth,” Watkins said.
Deeply religious, Watkins considered studying for the ministry after he graduated from high school.
“My family is real close to the Baptist church and I pursued it in high school,” Watkins noted. “I wasn’t going to play college football.”
In the final analysis, though, the lure of a free education for playing college football proved decisive. Watkins was rated the top lineman in the Midwest Region by MoKan Football and was selected to play in the Kansas Shrine Game.
Now that he is playing football, Watkins also has changed his academic pursuit.
“I’m doing education now,” he said. “Originally, I planned to do the ministry, but I switched.”
Specifically, he is studying secondary education with an emphasis on history and social sciences.
Mangino pleased: Rain and cold weather forced KU to practice indoors Wednesday at Anschutz Pavilion, but that didn’t dampen the Jayhawks’ enthusiasm as they prepared for Missouri.
“I have not seen that much intensity on the practice field since I’ve been head coach here,” said first-year coach Mark Mangino, who was an assistant at Oklahoma the previous three seasons. “Tuesday and Wednesday’s practices were as intense and crisp as we’ve had here.
“There were some collisions that you would think were shotgun blasts. Those are the kinds of collisions on the practice field I’ve been accustomed to in recent years, and it was a welcome sight here. It tells me our players are ready to play.”
