Watt earns full ride to Carroll College

Bonners Ferry High School honor student Colton Watt will have to get used to receiving a football.

Watt, a tight end and defensive end for the BFHS football team and 2009 All-League player for those positions, has received a four-year scholarship  to attend Carroll College in Helena, Mont.

He also has signed a letter of intent to play football at the college.

Watt, the 2010 BFHS valedictorian, is the son of Darek and Shawn Watt, of Bonners Ferry.

At 6 feet, 3 inches, and 205-pounds, Watt is the 2009 Badgers MVP and was nominated for the North Idaho Player of the Year.

He has also lettered in basketball and track, where he qualified for state all four years of high school. He has received a number of awards in athletics and academics.

This past spring, he set a new school record in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 39.8 and won the 3A 110 state title in 14.93 in Boise.

He is a member of the National Honor Society with a 4.0 GPA.

“This is a big deal,” said BFHS head coach football Ed DePriest.

“The fact that they decided to give him a four-year scholarship speaks highly of his academics, as well as his athletic ability.”

“When I was a coach in Lake City, I had a couple students get scholarships to Carroll College, who later went on to Syracuse and Notre Dame, and I believe that had a lot to do with the quality of education they received at Carroll College,” he said.

Watt said Carroll College head football coach Mike Van Diest came to him after viewing football films of him and said he was pretty sure he would be up for grabs for an athletic scholarship.

Two weeks ago, Van Diest visited Colton and had a letter of intent in hand for Watt to sign.

“I am really, really excited, practice starts in August for the fall season, it is going to be a really cool experience playing at the college level,” said Colton.

Watt said he is steering toward a major in biology, but has not decided for sure. Carroll College does not have a track program at this time but they are thinking about adding one next year, Watt said.

“If they add a track program I would sure like to participate in that also.”

Darek Watt said he and his wife Shawn are proud of their son.

“He is a hard worker, he works hard on his studies and athletics and had his priorities straight and it has paid off for him,” he said. “We are just proud as punch of him, we are lucky, lucky.”

“When I start talking about it I get all weepy,” said Shawn Watt.

“I am very excited about the student-athletes who have committed to Carroll College,” said Van Diest, who recently completed his 11th season at Carroll.

The Carroll College football team picked up some late recruits and filled out the rest of its 2010 recruiting class ,with the signing of four high school and one junior college transfer, head coach Van Diest announced on Tuesday.

 “We had 24 that have signed and another 15 walk ons, so we'll have a class of about 40 freshman,” Van Diest said.

The Saints coach, entering his 12th year in the program after leading the five-time NAIA champions to a semifinal berth last season, is excited about the fall season.

"It's going to be a good class," he said. "We definitely met some of our needs."

During his 10 years as head football coach at Carroll College, Van Diest has led the Fighting Saints to five national championships in the last seven years, which has been one of the most dominating runs in college football history.

The Saints have posted 117-19 record during the past ten seasons. This includes a 76-10 Frontier Conference record for an impressive 88 percent. The Fighting Saints have earned nine consecutive Frontier Conference Championships. This past season, the Saints finished 13-1 having lost to the Lindenwood University in the NAIA Semifinals.