PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Before TJ Watt became one of the NFL's most dominant linebackers, he was a multi-talented high school quarterback at Pewaukee High School in Wisconsin. His former coach, Justin Friske, recently shared insights about what it was like coaching the future Pittsburgh Steelers star.
"Being the quarterback and calling the plays and being able to tell people where to go when they need the help is pretty special," Watt said, reflecting on his high school days.
Friske described Watt as a reserved teenager who didn't seek the spotlight, despite his family's football pedigree.
"Kind of a reserved kid, everyone knew who he was, part of that was his brothers being who they were, but he was not a kid who really gravitated to the light," Friske said. "He wanted to be the man, but he didn't want everything else that went along with it."
On the field, Watt was exceptional from the start. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he possessed rare versatility that set him apart from his teammates.
"What do they say now? It's him, right? He is him," Friske said. "There wasn't a thing on the field that he couldn't do. If we wanted to kick, he could kick; he was our punter. He played quarterback, defensive end. He could throw the ball a mile; he could run. We were trying out punters. He kicked it 75 yards the first time I asked him to do it. This kid was a completely different human than the rest of the guys who were playing with him."
Living in his brother's shadow
During Watt's senior year, his brother JJ was becoming the face of the NFL, creating additional pressure for the younger Watt.
"TJ's senior year was the year that JJ blew up in the NFL, he became the face of the league, he was on ESPN magazine covers and Sports Illustrated covers," Friske said. "TJ was as proud as you can be of his brother, but also, there wasn't some unwarranted recognition placed on TJ for being JJ's brother. And the expectations go through the roof. TJ was his own man and wanted to make his own way."
The media attention sometimes became overwhelming for the 18-year-old.
"We would get crews that would come up from Houston that wanted to interview him at halftime of a game, pregame, and those types of things," Friske said. "This is an 18-year-old who has his own game; he doesn't need to be talking about his brother; he's got his own things that he needs to focus on."
Dominant senior season
Despite the pressure, Watt excelled during his senior year. Playing primarily quarterback rather than his natural defensive end position, he led Pewaukee to an undefeated conference championship.
"All State as a defensive end. We didn't play him much at defensive end, to be honest, because he was our quarterback and we really needed somebody with the ball in his hands," Friske said. "So never played quarterback before, and we put him in that role. We went undefeated, conference champs."
One game against rival Greendale particularly stood out to Friske as a showcase of Watt's exceptional talent.
"I think that night he had four touchdowns rushing, he had an interception from the defensive end position that he returned down to the five-yard line, and then scored on the next play," Friske said. "He took over the game, and there was no one on the field that was even in the same solar system that kid was in that night."
Friske noted that Watt possessed an intangible quality that elevated his teammates' performance, especially in crucial moments.
"The thing that he was able to do, which was really impressive to me, was to get all of his teammates to lift their level and the way he played in the really critical high leverage downs," Friske said. "You see it again now — he's always had that 'it' factor when the game is on the line and a play needs to be made, there he is."
While Friske recognized Watt's exceptional talent, he admits he couldn't have predicted the level of success his former player would achieve in the NFL.
"I don't think you could ever predict that," Friske said. "He's in a different stratosphere in terms of where he's at in the league; he's in the top 3% of the players in the NFL. There are superstars and then there are superstars, and he's in that extra elevated category."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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