Year after year, East St. Louis Senior High School churns out top-notch football talent, making East St. Louis, Ill. one of the primary stops for big name programs of NCAA Division I football. This year, Kyron Watson (OLB) and Gregory Taylor (DB/RB/WR) are two standouts on a Flyer football team that has a bevy of talent.
Both players reside in the Southend section of East St. Louis, where they use football as an escape from the perils of the city. Both are motivated to succeed and make a better way themselves and their families.
Kyron Watson, who acquired All-State and All-Metro honors and is ranked the No. 4 linebacker in the country by ESPN.com, verbally committed to the University of Kansas on May 14, joining head coach Charlie Weis and his program.
“I want to be under that umbrella of coaches.” Watson said. “They are trying to turn the program around, and I want to be a part of that.”
Watson is a 17-year-old hard-hitting outside linebacker. The 6’2”, 225-pound beast, who cites Ray Lewis as his favorite player, patrols his area with a ferocious fervor. In his junior season, when he was Metro East Player of the Year, he racked up 142 tackles, 20 of those for loss, five sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles.
“My favorite part about playing on the defensive side of the ball is hitting,” he said.
Watson is a vocal leader on the field, but in the classroom he is a quiet 3.4 GPA student whose favorite subject is English and wants to get a degree in engineering in case his NFL aspirations don’t pan out.
Gregory Taylor is a 5’11”, 180-pound ball hawk who runs a 4.3 40 and mirrors his style of play after retired All-Pro Safety Brian Dawkins. He also has no qualms about sitting in the box and stuffing the run. He is a versatile athlete who is utilized at a variety of positions and excels at all of them.
He will be taking his athleticism to Mizzou, where he verbally committed on April 11.
“I chose Mizzou because I could connect with the coaches,” Taylor said. “I went to the team meeting and talked to a couple of the players. I just liked what I saw down there, and I can see myself being a part of that family.”
Taylor, 17, is a very serious, quiet, and reserved player who steps on the field and handles his business in a very deliberate fashion. He is also a hard-working student. “I have a daughter, so I use her to motivate me,” said Taylor.
He says the best piece of advice that he has ever received is to always give it your all, go all out, and always strive for success, which was given to him by his high school coach, Coach Darren Sunkett.
“I believe that everyone in this profession should feel pressure to be successful, to want to win ball games,” Sunkett said. “This is how I look at it year in and year out. I’m out here to win ball games and develop these boys into young men.”
