Graham Couch

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING — Chances are slim Jalen Watts-Jackson will ever be better known at Michigan State for something other than those 10 seconds last October in Ann Arbor.

Even his position coach can’t say his name without replicating George Blaha’s radio call after Watts-Jackson dove into the end zone, his hip broken, the hearts of MSU fans forever his.

“Jalen … Watts … Jackson!” co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Harlon Barnett still calls him.

“It’s not that I’m tired of hearing about it,” Watts-Jackson said Monday evening after practice. “It’s more that I’m ready to move on, ready to make more happen.”

Watts-Jackson is part man, part myth, part legend, part redshirt-sophomore second-string safety. His place in Spartan football lore is secure. Now he’s transitioning into his actual MSU football career.

There, he’s firmly behind starters Demetrious Cox and Montae Nicholson and in the mix with Khari Willis and Grayson Miller for a spot with the second unit — which usually comes with playing time on defense.

“Right now I rotate with the 2s,” Watts-Jackson said.

And, of course, he’s on the first-team punt-block, aka “Rangers.” That spot is probably his for life.

Watts-Jackson doesn’t bemoan the attention for his fumble recovery and winning touchdown run last Oct. 17. He gets it. He loves that it happened, even if it ended with excruciating pain in the end zone, surgery and rehab. He appreciates the pets and race horses named after him and the people who see him and instantly smile.

“People still stop me going around town and I take pictures and sign random things,” he said. “I signed a phone, like a person’s actual phone. I’m still living through it every day, but I just want to work to keep moving on, make more plays and make myself more known than just the Michigan play.”

So few college athletes have such a moment. Even fewer have it come when they’re so obscure to their own fan base. And fewer still have a storybook ending in their opening act. That’s an odd dynamic. Watts-Jackson is college football’s version of a child movie star. Now he has to live as that guy and, to whatever extent he can, redefine himself. The goal is to be Drew Barrymore and not Haley Joel Osment.

“I try just to not let it get to my head,” Watts-Jackson said. “I never got too cocky about the situation. Because at the end of the day, it was me and all my teammates out there. And we all worked to make that play happen.”

Watts-Jackson isn’t looking for another memorable play. He wants many regular plays, plays that help MSU win. Plays that over time make him known as an important player.

“I want (people to see), ‘OK, he’s still making plays. He wasn’t just this one-play guy,’” Watts-Jackson said.

Physically there is nothing holding him back any longer, he says. No pain, no limitations. And no getting away from those 10 seconds.

“Even out on the field, the guys joke around and call me legend and stuff,’” he said. “But they know once we come out here it’s no — and I tell people, ‘I’m good (to go).’ People never took it easy on me in drills. If I’m out here, I’m ready to play. It jumps back to reality quick.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.