You would be hard-pressed to find a more animated player in all of college football than Pitt senior defensive tackle Amir Watts. He is a unique person that speaks his mind, has fun, and genuinely loves the game of football.
Watts is a rare recruit from the city of Chicago that plays for Pitt. It’s an area that the staff normally doesn’t recruit, and in typical Amir Watts fashion, he was wondering about that on Tuesday afternoon when a question was led off about that.
“Right? What’s up with that? I’m in the room everyday, I’m in the GA room everyday vouching for my guys,” Watts said of how he wants to get more Chicagoans into the Pitt program.
Chicago helped shape Amir Watts. He grew up in the Southside of Chicago, a tough area. Some may resent where they came from, but a guy like Watts embraces his hometown.
When asked about what it’s like in the Southside, he pointed to himself.
“Southside of Chicago? I think you got it right here, it’s real colorful. I love my city. The people there, even when they do the bad stuff, I love them. How I came up, it was like needed, almost.”
Watts added, “Chicago is like super diehard. It’s either this way or no way. You know from that tough love of the city, it’s like we produce diamonds instead of busted pipes.”
Tough love? That’s something Watts is used to from his hometown, and something he wanted from his defensive line coach. When Charlie Partridge was hired to replace Tom Sims in 2017, Watts specifically asked his new coach to be tough on him.
“When he got in here, he demanded different, like a different feel for us,” Watts said of Partridge. “He demanded certain things that the other coach didn’t - I’ll say that. He held us to a higher standard and with that comes with the results. He just always was hard on us.”
Watts has had an up and down career at Pitt. He earned playing time as a true freshman, and even started against Clemson in Pitt’s big upset over the Tigers.
He was a part time start in 2017 and 2018, and was set to split time with Keyshon Camp this season. After Camp went down with his injury in week one, Watts has stepped up his play.
He has a career-high 22 tackles this season. He has 7 tackles for loss, after only compiling 8 in his first three seasons combined. Partridge has seen a lot of maturity in his senior defensive linemen over the past three years.
“I mean Amir is someone I couldn’t be prouder of, just in terms of how he’s grown as a whole,” Partridge said. "All of us get into coaching - most of us get into it for developing men and Amir since the day I walked in the door to where he’s come now and just how he handles his life, I’m really, really proud of him. He’s obviously been a great contributor this year just in terms of how he’s played.”
The story of Watts and his career at Pitt comes full circle a bit when you take it back to the recruiting stage. Watts is a people person and he loves his hometown. While looking at all of his options, it was the feel at Pitt that stuck out to him most.
“But what stuck with me how the people was the vibe that I got here,” Watts said. "It’s the family feel, the brothers. I had a group chat before we even got here and I felt like I was part of a family before I even stepped foot on the campus. I was like, ‘I got to be here’ Everybody wants that same common goal. Everybody’s working hard, it just felt normal - felt like home.”
Speaking of home, Watts is Chicago through and through and when he saw Pat Narduzzi pull up to his house on a recruiting visit, that impression stuck with him most.
“Shoot, I’m from the Southside of Chicago. He pulls up, and I’m like, ‘Yo, you know where you at?’ He was like, ‘Yea, you thought I was scared? Come on!’ Like during the visit and I was like, ‘Alright yea, I like this guy.’
Watts will get one more home game on Saturday as Pitt takes on Boston College at 3:30.
