BROTHERLY
OND
B
By Alex Miller
Christian Kirk had not even spent his first night in College Station the summer before his freshman year when he met the teammate who would become his best friend—Armani Watts.
“Armani lived next door with some other defensive guys and just kept coming over to our house, hanging out, staying on our couch,” Kirk said. “And me and him just started a bond.”
Watts spent so much time over at Kirk’s that he moved in at summer’s end. From there, the bond tightened even further spending countless hours having movie marathons.
“We went on a binge when we first moved in together,” Kirk said. “We watched scary movies probably every night and we’ve probably watched every movie on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO – it never stops.”
The two A&M football standouts have been roommates ever since. Over time, their friendship became deeper, as Kirk described it – brotherly-like.
“I’ve been to his house a couple times back in [Arizona],” Watts said. “We’re basically family.”
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At home, the duo is highly competitive, especially in video games. From Madden to NBA 2K, the controllers get cranking, but nothing compares to Call of Duty: Black Ops. Kirk and Watts team up on their favorite feature – Zombies. Watts said he has made as far as 65 rounds in.
Each having West Coast roots, Kirk and Watts also discovered a shared hobby in skateboarding.
“When we were younger we skated and then we both figured out we skated,” Watts said.
Kirk added skating provided a way for the two to kill down time during the summer.
“In the summer you have lots of free time to do whatever you want whether it’s in between workouts or on the weekends,” Kirk said. “We both went out and bought skateboards and found something to do.”
Although neither has suffered an injury, a couple close calls caused them to tone down any potential X-Games dreams while still playing football.
Their tight-knit bond allows the two to keep each other accountable.
“Whenever one of us is messing up, we’re not afraid to let each other know we need to get on track or do something differently,” Kirk said.
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From home to the Davis Center and the Coolidge Practice Fields, competition between Kirk and Watts never stops.
“Want to be the best, compete against the best,” Watts said. “I work hard and I know he works hard and will make me better at covering receivers.”
Kirk agreed that whilst the fight is fierce, it benefits both sides in the end, especially in game planning.
“We both feed off each other,” Kirk said. “We have high football IQ’s. Whenever I need to know what kind of coverage a team is running so I can adjust my routes, he tells me and whatever I see from a receiver I tell him this is what you should do to cover him. We go hand-in-hand trying to help each other out.”
With vocal leaders Trevor Knight and Myles Garrett departed, new chiefs must emerge and A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin said Kirk and Watts’ leadership is strong on the field, but is cultivated from their actions off of it.
“Those two get along very well. They compete, and it gets back to what I said. It gets back to that kind of leadership, not just on the field, but it’s also that leadership off the field that creates a football team that you love to be around,” Sumlin said. “These guys are not only good players, but they’re good people and they’re going to be successful.”
From a player’s standpoint, Kirk and Watts’ teammates have taken notice on
their unique leadership.
“Both of those guys love to hold each other accountable,” offensive tackle Koda Martin said. “It really unites the team to have two guys like that who will encourage one another and hold each other accountable.”
Watts had been a force at safety in 2016, but when he got the crown of Akeem Judd’s helmet square to the knee in the first quarter against Ole Miss, his stellar season came to a screeching halt.
The collision resulted in a torn hamstring, causing Watts to miss the final three games of the season. “To that point I had never missed a game,” Watts said. “It was a horrible feeling knowing that I couldn’t play with my boys out there.
Although he couldn’t play, Watts made sure to still be present in games.
“I really had to step up and be a vocal leader at that time,” Watts added. “I talked to the younger guys letting them know what I’m seeing from the sidelines.”
An early departure to the NFL was also halted because of his injury. Watts said coming back though would allow him to finish his degree and train for the Draft.
“I’ll be able to graduate this December staying. I wouldn’t have been able to train if would’ve left early so there wouldn’t have been any point,” Watts said of the decision to stay for his senior season. “No rush, it’s going to be there and I’ll get to graduate.”
Now back for a fourth season, Watts believes the tandem of him and Donovan Wilson atop the secondary could shape up to be one of the best in football.
“We could be one of the best in the country,” Watts said of their potential. “Donovan’s a hard hitter, a smart football player.” Kirk on the other hand has a different task at hand. Rather than having an experienced counterpart to compliment him, he is the lone veteran at receiver.
With several early-enrollees vying for starting spots, Kirk noted he has been able to guide them through their first semester on campus.
“I try to give them all the tools they need to be successful, everything that I’ve learned as to help me be successful early on in my career,” Kirk said. “They’ve been able to see that I’ve you come in and work hard early, you’ll be able to play.”
As a former early-enrollee himself, Kirk emphasized the importance of having the extra semester to become accustomed to college football.
“They get to learn the offense and get acclimated to the offense,” Kirk said. “They have an upper step ahead of the guys who come in during fall because they’ve already been around, they know how things work so when fall camp comes around, they’re not just running around with their head on fire.”
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Both Kirk and Watts have only been a part of 8-5 teams during their tenures in Aggieland. The consistent middle-of-the-pack finishes have gotten old after bright beginnings.
“It sucks,” Kirk said. “We’ve had early success and then at the end of the season, obviously losing isn’t what we want to do. We just want to bring the best out of our guys and attack the last half of the season.
“We know we’ve got to win.”
In three years, Watts has seen the same result, giving him something to prove in his final year.
“We don’t want to go 8-5 again,” Watts said. “We’ve kind of put that on our shoulders to make a new culture and show guys that we can be better than 8-5.
“Just be consistent and win. We’ve got to finish games.”
Players alike have taken note of Kirk and Watts’ drive and the things the two are doing to take a step forward.
“Those are great players that love the game of football,” Martin said. “Christian does all the little things behind the scenes. He doing his stretches, he’s hydrating, he’s eating right, he’s doing doing whatever it takes to be set apart… Armani, really high energy, loves the game, loves to play, loves to hit.”
Around Aggieland, Kirk has taken notice of other A&M teams who have won
conference and national titles, only fueling him more to bring one home for himself.
“We have other sports programs winning SEC championships and national championships,” Kirk said of A&M’s athletic success. “Football hasn’t won one in a while so we took that as a challenge. We want to be at the top.”
Kirk and Watts agreed that their goal is simple – win a championship.
In doing so, however, the secret to success may lie from within and start with them.
“Leadership’s a big part of championship teams,” Kirk said. “Championship teams aren’t run by coaches, they’re run by players and that’s the type of culture we’re trying to instill in this team.”
Cassie Stricker— The Battalion