Tre Watson named B1G Defensive Player of the Week

LB Tre Watson from @IlliniFootball is the #B1G Defensive Player of the Week, with a career-high 16 tackles against Michigan State
https://twitter.com/B1Gfootball/status/795650254850899968

Nice to see his efforts recognized, especially after a lot of criticism from posters on here wondering why he is even on the field.

Well deserved. He was all over the field on Saturday.

By far his best game. As a unit the defense seemed pretty sound on gap control, but Watson especially.

Not to take away from the well-deserved honor, but did anyone else notice Tre getting a lecture from the ref in the first half? Tre made a tackle (for loss if I remember correctly) where it looked like there was some moderate helmet-to-helmet contact in the course of the tackle (looked pretty much face-to-face to me). Tre began celebrating the tackle and the ref came up and started talking to him. Of course I don't know what was said, but I pictured the conversation going something like "You should stop celebrating- you were very close to getting flagged for targeting on that play."

Way to go Tre!

FiveStar said:

By far his best game. As a unit the defense seemed pretty sound on gap control, but Watson especially.

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Noticed the gap-filling efforts in this game. Very consistent and I think it played to their confidence as the game wore on.