A Project of Reflection and Inspiration

2/2/2026

The experience, exhilarating as it was, would one day come to an end.

Jackson Watkins knew that, of course, and he understood.

That said, the 2019 Collegiate School graduate wouldn’t have minded if his two-year stint as an against-all-odds basketball walk-on at the University of North Carolina lasted forever.

Suiting up for the Tar Heels, you see, had been his lifelong dream. Ever since he was a young kid, he envisioned himself running onto the court at the Dean E. Smith Center — a.k.a “The Dean Dome” — to the roar of the adoring, passionate home crowd, then playing on one of the biggest and most storied stages in the college hoops world.

The dream continued through rec league and AAU ball, his years playing for the Cougars, and his two seasons as a 6-1 starting point guard for UNC’s JV team.

His opportunity of a lifetime finally arrived his Junior year when he tried out before Coach Hubert Davis and his staff and, through grit, hustle, spirit, and talent, earned a spot on the roster, albeit with no guarantee of playing time. Didn’t matter. All he wanted was the chance. He’d make the most of it, and he’d be the best team guy he could be. That, he promised his coaches and teammates. That, he promised himself.

Did he deliver? You bet he did., He loved every minute of his time wearing Carolina blue, and he’s chronicled his experiences in his recently published memoir entitled Dream On with the subtitle From Backyard to Biscuits: A Tar Heel Basketball Tale.

A 2023 Carolina alumnus with an undergraduate degree in business administration and minor in computer science, Watkins has worked as an investment banking associate at Goldman Sachs in New York City for the past two-and-a-half years. One morning recently, he spoke of his journey and his motivation for capturing it in print.

How difficult was it for you when your basketball career ended?

Whether you play a sport in college or are a college student transitioning to the real world, it’s difficult on a lot of different levels whether it’s socially, physically, or emotionally. For me, it was a big transition because I essentially had to say goodbye to basketball and this dream that I’d been living. Basketball, my whole life, had been part of who I was and my identity.

Moving to New York was definitely a transition. It was a large new city, new people, a new job, but I’ve continued to work out. That’s been ingrained in me. I quickly found out that there’re a lot of ex-athletes at Goldman, and I play basketball with some of my friends on Saturdays. It’s obviously not the same thing as the Division I level, but it’s been good as I’ve transitioned out of the college era.

How did the idea of writing a book come about?

I’ve always loved reading, and the thought of writing a book has always intrigued me. Once I made the basketball team and we had that improbable Final Four run (in 2022 when UNC reached the national championship game), I realized it was a really great story on a couple of different levels: my personal journey and the team’s journey through March Madness. I made sure I journaled and wrote down the experiences and emotions of going through it.

By the time I graduated, I realized I wanted to proceed writing a book. From there, I just started writing. It was difficult at first. The process of just letting my thoughts run on paper was really helpful. I focused on having a high quality product. I’m not in it for the money or the spotlight. It’s something to share with people and to look back on. It was a project of reflection and, hopefully, inspiration.

Speak about the biscuit reference in the title.

There’s a promotion with Carolina basketball and Bojangles where if Carolina scores 100 points at home, everybody in the state of North Carolina can get two biscuits for a dollar from Bojangles the next day. It’s really been a thing among the Carolina faithful. Typically, if we’re able to score 100 points, we’re beating up another team pretty badly. That’s when the walk-ons get in. They’re known around campus as the Biscuit Boys. I was fortunate enough to hit two biscuit shots. One was a free throw to get the 100th point (against N.C. State). The other was a 3-pointer with 10 seconds to go (against The Citadel). So my four career points were all biscuit points.

Elaborate on your two biscuit shots.

The free throw against NC State was a magical fairy-tale moment. My first year on the team, I hadn’t scored yet, and we were thrown into the game with 97 on the scoreboard. We got a quick layup to get to 99. Then, I stole the ball, and the guy I’d been guarding fouled me. I go to the free throw line, and I’m realizing I’m about to shoot a free throw not just for biscuits or for the 100th point, or my first-ever career point, but in front of Michael Jordan and the 1982 national championship team (which was being feted that night). It was definitely a surreal moment.

Against The Citadel, we were put into the game at 95 with a minute or two on the clock. With about 30 seconds left, one of my teammates, Creighton Lebo, hit a 2-point jumper to get to 97. Citadel goes down, misses a 3-pointer. We get the rebound. There’re about 15 seconds left. I push it up the floor. The crowd is going crazy because they want us to get 100. I passed the ball to one of my teammates, got it right back, and shot a deep fadeaway 3 from the (right) wing with about 10 seconds left. It was right in front of our bench.

In your book, you speak about tenacity and persistence.

My dream from childhood was always playing basketball at North Carolina. I always had the faith that if I worked hard enough, I could achieve that dream. At many points along the journey, I could have given up, whether it was going to a Division III school or playing JV the first season and saying, “It’s a long shot to walk on. I don’t think I can do it.” When Covid hit, that could easily have been an excuse to give up on it, but I kept working out, always with this belief in mind, and by the time the tryout came around myJunior year, I was ready. I’m grateful for the opportunity. It really taught me the power of belief and faith. The brotherhood, the mentorship from the coaches, and the life lessons that I learned I’ll carry with me the rest of my life.

One of your messages, competitive as you are, is that basketball is more than a game.

It’s very easy to think about sports as putting a ball through a basket, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s about the relationships you’re making and the standard you’re striving to meet every day. It’s being coachable and understanding how to take feedback and get better. When we lost the national championship game to Kansas, we were devastated. Afterwards, we were in the locker room. It’s silent, and Coach Davis is going around to everybody, hugging them, consoling them. I was just wondering what he could possibly say to make the pain go away. When he got to me, I was so proud, the one thing that made me realize what it was all about. He said, “I love you.” That put it into perspective. Yes, it’s a basketball game. At the end of the day, the experience of being part of a team and being part of such moments was what really mattered.

Whom do you want to reach with your book?

The initial inspiration for writing the book is the kid version of myself. For me, the dream was such a long shot. I think it would fuel me to keep chasing that dream. As I wrote, I realized there were so many people out there with dreams, whether they’re athletic or academic or professional. I want to convey the idea of dream-big-and-chase-it-hard because that’s what I did. There were twists and turns along the way, but magical things can happen when you approach your dreams with the belief and conviction that things will eventually work out. That’s the key message of the book.

~Weldon Bradshaw

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