Troy University Athletics
2023 Football Roster
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Jersey Number 18
Gunnar Watson
- Position:
- QB
- Ht./Wt.:
- 6-3 / 210
- Class:
- Senior
- Hometown:
- Butler, Ga.
- High School:
- Taylor County HS
2023 All-Sun Belt Third Team
2023 (Senior): Named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team … Finished his career as Troy’s third-leading passer with 10,275 career passing yards … He ranks fourth in career TD passes (65) and third with 846 career completions … Threw for 3,569 yards and 27 touchdowns with just six interceptions in 2023 … His passing yardage was tied for the fourth most in a season in program history, while his 27 touchdown passes were tied for the fifth most … Finished his career with 11 games of three or more touchdowns, tied for the most in Troy’s DI history, his five in 2023 were one shy of Troy’s single-season DI record … Part of just the third 3,000-yard, 1,000-yard passing/rushing duo in school history … Ranked as the 14th best QB in the country per PFF and second-best at the Group of Five level … As a passer, ranked 12th overall … In league play, threw 19 touchdown passes and just three interceptions (one of which was a Hail Mary at the end of a half) … Finished season with just two interceptions over his final 264 pass attempts, one of which was a Hail Mary … Threw four touchdown passes in victories over Stephen F. Austin and ULM … String of five straight games with multiple TD passes, including four straight games with 3-plus TDs (13 TDs/four games) … Passed for 392 yards in victory at Texas State, the 14th most yards in a game in program history
2022 (Junior): Named the MVP of the Sun Belt Championship Game after completing 12-of-17 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns in Troy's 45-26 victory over Coastal Carolina … Completed 206-of-335 passes for 2,818 yards and 14 touchdowns on the year … Led the Sun Belt with nine passes of 50-plus yards, ranked third in 40-yard passes (11) and 30-plus yard passes (21) … Third nationally in 50-yard passes, 25th in 30-plus yard passes and 19th in 40-plus yard passes … Completed 34-of-47 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown in the opener at Ole Miss … Passed for 300-plus yards in four games … Four touchdown passes on 23-of-34 passing against Alabama A&M … Rushed for a pair of touchdowns at App State … Became the seventh player in program history to top the 5,000-yard mark … Came off the bench at South Alabama and completed all four of his pass attempts, including back-to-back passes of 36 yards and 14 yards to open a drive that resulted in a 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter
2021 (Sophomore): Took over the starting duties in week six … Completed 140-of-228 passes for eight touchdowns and just four interceptions in seven starts … Averaged 220.6 yards per game in his seven starts, would have ranked fourth in the Sun Belt … Threw for 350 yards on 29-of-55 passing against Louisiana; passing yardage total ranks as the 33rd most in a game in school history and the 55 attempts were the sixth most in a game since at least 2001 … Threw three touchdown passes at Coastal Carolina … Picked up his first career rushing touchdown in the Louisiana contest … Completed 11-of-14 passes (78.6 percent) against South Alabama; in his career against the Jags, has completed 83.3 percent of his attempts (45-of-54) … Receivers had 17 drops on his attempts, would have raised completion percentage to 64.1 percent compared to 61.4
2020 (Sophomore): Started nine games in his first season as Troy’s No. 1 quarterback – missed games at Arkansas State and Georgia Southern after suffering an injury against Georgia State … Led the Sun Belt averaging 237.9 yards per game through the air despite missing three quarters of the Georgia State game … Also led the league with a 70.1 completion percentage, which ranked seventh nationally … Ranked 11th nationally averaging 23.44 completions per game, while his passing yards were the 32nd most in the country … Completed 211-of-307 passes for 2,141 yards and 16 touchdowns with just seven interceptions … Threw four touchdown passes in Troy’s victory over Texas State and had three scoring strikes in the blowout of South Alabama … His 82.9 completion percentage against South Alabama (34-of-41) was the fifth-best in Troy history (min. 15 attempts) and the best when raising the threshold to 35 attempts … His 33 completions against Texas State rank as the 11th most in a game in school history … Named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week, a Manning Award Star of the Week and to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 List following the Texas State game … Became the first Troy quarterback to win his first career start since 2010 (Corey Robinson)
2019 (RS-Freshman): Troy’s backup quarterback … Played in six different games … Played the entire second half at Missouri; completed 5-of-9 passes for 58 yards with a long of 25 yards … On the year, completed 13-of-22 passes for 89 yards
2018 (Freshman): Played in a pair of games as a reserve quarterback … Completed 5-of-8 passes for 20 yards against Florida A&M and 3-of-4 passes for 25 yards at Liberty … Redshirted
High School: Named Regional Offensive Player of the Year following his senior year at Taylor County High School … Four-year starter for the Vikings and helped lead Taylor County to a 19-5 record his final two seasons … Earned all-state honorable mention after his junior year … Threw for over 6,700 yards and 65 touchdowns in 43 games for the Vikings … Did not throw an interception during the regular season of his senior year … Selected to Georgia Class A Preseason All-State Team by Recruit Georgia … Ranked as the 23rd best pro-style quarterback nationally by Rivals.com and as a three-star … 247 Sports rated him as the 42nd best pro-style quarterback in the country and as a three-star … Was a two-time all-state and three-time all-region selection in baseball
Personal: Full name is Milton Gunnar Watson … Born Jan. 11, 2000, in Macon, Ga. … Son of Mindy and Jeff Watson … Has one sister, Bree ... Graduated with a degree in business
2023 (Senior): Named to the All-Sun Belt Third Team … Finished his career as Troy’s third-leading passer with 10,275 career passing yards … He ranks fourth in career TD passes (65) and third with 846 career completions … Threw for 3,569 yards and 27 touchdowns with just six interceptions in 2023 … His passing yardage was tied for the fourth most in a season in program history, while his 27 touchdown passes were tied for the fifth most … Finished his career with 11 games of three or more touchdowns, tied for the most in Troy’s DI history, his five in 2023 were one shy of Troy’s single-season DI record … Part of just the third 3,000-yard, 1,000-yard passing/rushing duo in school history … Ranked as the 14th best QB in the country per PFF and second-best at the Group of Five level … As a passer, ranked 12th overall … In league play, threw 19 touchdown passes and just three interceptions (one of which was a Hail Mary at the end of a half) … Finished season with just two interceptions over his final 264 pass attempts, one of which was a Hail Mary … Threw four touchdown passes in victories over Stephen F. Austin and ULM … String of five straight games with multiple TD passes, including four straight games with 3-plus TDs (13 TDs/four games) … Passed for 392 yards in victory at Texas State, the 14th most yards in a game in program history
2022 (Junior): Named the MVP of the Sun Belt Championship Game after completing 12-of-17 passes for 318 yards and three touchdowns in Troy's 45-26 victory over Coastal Carolina … Completed 206-of-335 passes for 2,818 yards and 14 touchdowns on the year … Led the Sun Belt with nine passes of 50-plus yards, ranked third in 40-yard passes (11) and 30-plus yard passes (21) … Third nationally in 50-yard passes, 25th in 30-plus yard passes and 19th in 40-plus yard passes … Completed 34-of-47 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown in the opener at Ole Miss … Passed for 300-plus yards in four games … Four touchdown passes on 23-of-34 passing against Alabama A&M … Rushed for a pair of touchdowns at App State … Became the seventh player in program history to top the 5,000-yard mark … Came off the bench at South Alabama and completed all four of his pass attempts, including back-to-back passes of 36 yards and 14 yards to open a drive that resulted in a 51-yard field goal in the fourth quarter
2021 (Sophomore): Took over the starting duties in week six … Completed 140-of-228 passes for eight touchdowns and just four interceptions in seven starts … Averaged 220.6 yards per game in his seven starts, would have ranked fourth in the Sun Belt … Threw for 350 yards on 29-of-55 passing against Louisiana; passing yardage total ranks as the 33rd most in a game in school history and the 55 attempts were the sixth most in a game since at least 2001 … Threw three touchdown passes at Coastal Carolina … Picked up his first career rushing touchdown in the Louisiana contest … Completed 11-of-14 passes (78.6 percent) against South Alabama; in his career against the Jags, has completed 83.3 percent of his attempts (45-of-54) … Receivers had 17 drops on his attempts, would have raised completion percentage to 64.1 percent compared to 61.4
2020 (Sophomore): Started nine games in his first season as Troy’s No. 1 quarterback – missed games at Arkansas State and Georgia Southern after suffering an injury against Georgia State … Led the Sun Belt averaging 237.9 yards per game through the air despite missing three quarters of the Georgia State game … Also led the league with a 70.1 completion percentage, which ranked seventh nationally … Ranked 11th nationally averaging 23.44 completions per game, while his passing yards were the 32nd most in the country … Completed 211-of-307 passes for 2,141 yards and 16 touchdowns with just seven interceptions … Threw four touchdown passes in Troy’s victory over Texas State and had three scoring strikes in the blowout of South Alabama … His 82.9 completion percentage against South Alabama (34-of-41) was the fifth-best in Troy history (min. 15 attempts) and the best when raising the threshold to 35 attempts … His 33 completions against Texas State rank as the 11th most in a game in school history … Named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week, a Manning Award Star of the Week and to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 List following the Texas State game … Became the first Troy quarterback to win his first career start since 2010 (Corey Robinson)
2019 (RS-Freshman): Troy’s backup quarterback … Played in six different games … Played the entire second half at Missouri; completed 5-of-9 passes for 58 yards with a long of 25 yards … On the year, completed 13-of-22 passes for 89 yards
2018 (Freshman): Played in a pair of games as a reserve quarterback … Completed 5-of-8 passes for 20 yards against Florida A&M and 3-of-4 passes for 25 yards at Liberty … Redshirted
High School: Named Regional Offensive Player of the Year following his senior year at Taylor County High School … Four-year starter for the Vikings and helped lead Taylor County to a 19-5 record his final two seasons … Earned all-state honorable mention after his junior year … Threw for over 6,700 yards and 65 touchdowns in 43 games for the Vikings … Did not throw an interception during the regular season of his senior year … Selected to Georgia Class A Preseason All-State Team by Recruit Georgia … Ranked as the 23rd best pro-style quarterback nationally by Rivals.com and as a three-star … 247 Sports rated him as the 42nd best pro-style quarterback in the country and as a three-star … Was a two-time all-state and three-time all-region selection in baseball
Personal: Full name is Milton Gunnar Watson … Born Jan. 11, 2000, in Macon, Ga. … Son of Mindy and Jeff Watson … Has one sister, Bree ... Graduated with a degree in business
Troy vs. Kent State (Full Highlights)
Tuesday, November 04
Troy vs. Toledo (Full Highlights)
Tuesday, November 04
Scott Cross Postgame Press Conference (Kent State)
Tuesday, November 04
Players Postgame Press Conference (Kent State)
Tuesday, November 04
