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Six Washington State players named to Reese’s Senior Bowl watch list

Washington State edge rusher Ron Stone Jr. prepares to line up for a play against USC during the first half of a Pac-12 game on Oct. 8 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Greg Woods gregw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5587

PULLMAN – Six Washington State players are among the best upperclassmen in the nation.

That’s because the Reese’s Senior Bowl named six Cougars to its watch list: Edges Brennan Jackson and Ron Stone Jr, quarterback Cameron Ward, defensive backs Chau Smith-Wade and Sam Lockett III and running back Nakia Watson.

All but Ward are seniors, but all are eligible for the watch list because they’re eligible for the 2024 NFL Draft.

Jackson, a redshirt senior from Temecula, California, was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2022, his third career all-conference accolade after receiving honorable mention the previous two seasons. Jackson recorded 41 tackles, tied for fourth in the Pac-12 with 12 tackles for loss including a team-high six sacks. Jackson also forced one fumble, broke up three passes and led the team with 38 quarterback pressures.

Lockett III, who transferred from City College of San Francisco ahead of last season and started 10 games as a safety, led the team with three interceptions. The redshirt senior from Spokane (Gonzaga Prep) tallied 51 tackles, broke up three passes and recovered one fumble. Lockett recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter of the win at No. 19 Wisconsin, made 11 tackles against No. 15 Oregon and picked off two passes in a win at Arizona.

Smith-Wade, a junior from Denver, earned his first career All-Pac-12 accolade in 2022 after making 42 tackles with 2.5 for loss, tied for the Pac-12 lead with three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, a team-best eight pass breakups and two interceptions. Smith-Wade earned the fourth-best defensive grade and fourth-best coverage grade in the Pac-12 by PFF College.

Redshirt senior Stone Jr. is coming off a 2022 campaign that saw him earn his second-straight all-conference honor after being named to the first team in 2021. Stone Jr., from San Jose, California, recorded 34 tackles, including four for loss, with two sacks, three pass breakups and tied for second in the Pac-12 with 11 quarterback hits.

Last season, in his first season with the Cougars, Ward was named All-Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention after starting all 13 games, leading WSU to its seventh straight bowl game and throwing for 3,231 yards and 23 touchdowns. The junior from West Columbia, Texas, recorded four 300-yard games, rushed for five touchdowns, had five games with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown and was named a semifinalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, given to the top offensive player from Texas.

Last season, Ward completed 320 passes, the eighth-most in WSU single-season history while his 64.4 completion percentage was ninth-best in WSU single-season history.

Watson, a redshirt senior from Austin, Texas, earned his first career all-conference honor in 2022 after finishing the regular season ninth in the Pac-12 with 13 total touchdowns and seventh with 96.7 all-purpose yards-per-game, seventh with 69.9 rushing yards-per-game and tied for eighth with nine rushing touchdowns. Watson had three 100-yard rushing games, forced 36 missed tackles on runs and was third in the Pac-12 with 10 runs of 20-plus yards.