The way Will Watkins sees it, compared to the challenge he faces on the dirt clumps of a rodeo ring, corralling opposing running backs isn't all that difficult.
And regardless of whether he's jumping from the saddle of a galloping horse to wrap his arms around the horns of a 600-pound steer or locking in on a darting 170-pound ball carrier, once Watkins gets his hands on his opponent he typically brings an abrupt end to the chase.
"He's such a solid tackler. People don't get away from him once he gets his hands on them," said Boyd-Buchanan coach Carter Cardwell. "He's just a great leader and I love his attitude, because Will is relentless and high intensity about everything he does."
Boyd-Buchanan's barrel-chested 5-foot-11, 230-pound junior linebacker began competing on the rodeo circuit long before he started playing football and wrestling. And he thinks the rodeo has prepared him for the tenacity needed to be successful in his other sports.
"It's probably the toughest sport there is, so just being a cowboy gives you a certain amount of grit that not everybody else has," said Watkins, who admitted he's broken a couple of fingers without telling anyone and had a bruise the size of a calf's hoof after getting stepped on once.
"It lets people know I'm a little bit tougher than they are," he added jokingly.
Watkins was a two-way starter last year at linebacker and left tackle, leading the team in tackles and helping pave the way for two 1,000-yard rushers as the Bucs claimed the Region 3-2A championship.
This season he'll again anchor the defense at inside linebacker but has moved from offensive line into the backfield, where Bucs coaches are counting on his physical approach as a blocker and ball carrier.
"He's going to be our hammer back there on offense," Cardwell said. "Our backs love running behind him, and he's such a load that he can wear people down running the ball.
"He's the classic effort guy. When he comes off the field he's left it all out there."
Watkins' mom, Amy, has been riding horses at rodeos since she was a teenager and passed along her love for the sport to all three sons. The oldest, Cole, is attending West Alabama on a rodeo scholarship. Amy said she worries more about Will's well-being on the football field than at rodeos.
At an age when most kids are learning to swing a baseball bat, Will's athletic career began by competing in dummy roping and goat-tying contests at rodeos. Soon after that he was barrel racing and calf roping, and more recently he began practicing steer wrestling on his family's farm in Ringgold, with plans to add that to the list of events.
He and his family have crisscrossed through more than a dozen states, typically traveling out West once the school year ends to spend more than a month competing in rodeos before returning home to begin workouts for football.
He's a five-time Georgia state rodeo qualifier, winning saddles and belt buckles for first-place finishes in calf roping and chute dogging - an event where the competitor starts in a chute with a smaller steer, typically 500 pounds or less, as opposed to on horseback. It's designed to give young competitors a chance to prepare for steer wrestling.
At his most recent competition, in Des Moines, Iowa, Watkins took fifth place in the national calf-roping competition.
"It's an adrenaline rush," said Watkins, who has also placed fifth at the state wrestling tournament each of the past two years in the 220-pound division. "Rodeoing is probably the most fun thing in the world to me, and I plan on doing it the rest of my life.
"The only thing that comes close is a maybe a sack or a big hit in football. Maybe."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.