Will Maturity Spoil Watters? : 49ers: Running back says that he has grown up, which is good for a laugh.

Significant news to relay from the San Francisco 49ers’ practice facility: Running back Ricky Watters has found maturity.

He said so Wednesday, and while he had to be coerced by team officials to be available for a 10-minute interview, he concluded that now that he has scored five touchdowns in one game, he is all grown up.

Research into his background, therefore, is not relevant, although irresistible.

There was the fumble in last year’s NFC championship game that led to a sideline temper tantrum and Dallas’ first touchdown. There were also reports from that 30-20 loss that he had yelled at quarterback Steve Young for “choking” in the big game.

Kids will be kids, of course. While at Notre Dame, Watters missed the USC game in his final season after being suspended for breaking team rules. After going on to the NFL as a second-round pick, Watters returned to the huddle after his first professional carry and shouted to teammates: “They can’t stop me.”

They didn’t, and Watters knew it. Last season, after his second year in the pros, he gained a trip to the Pro Bowl that reportedly left players throughout the league moaning and groaning about an ego gone wild.

An ejection for a late hit earlier this season against the Steelers prompted Pittsburgh cornerback D.J. Johnson to say, “He’s a punk.”

Old news, Watters said, while declining to talk about the bad old days Wednesday. The new and improved Ricky Watters, he said, has matured and will never again embarrass his parents, who reside in Harrisburg, Pa., as he did against the Steelers.

“The man says he’s much more mature now,” 49er center Jesse Sapolu said. “And I believe him wholeheartedly.”

Once Sapolu had stopped laughing and had regained his composure, he added: “I can see it, I guess. You don’t see any Gatorade bucket flying around, now do you?

“You have to know Ricky. I think one of the reasons he’s such a good player is that he doesn’t let the past wreck his concentration.”

Last week, Watters became the only player to score five touchdowns in an NFL playoff game during the 49ers’ 44-3 victory over the New York Giants.

Asked to describe his five touchdowns, Watters said he could do so in one word: “Offensive line.”

It’s the Watters curse: He can’t contain himself. His mother took him to a doctor when he was 5, concerned he was hyperactive. The doctor advised her that he was going to be like that for quite some time.

“Ricky was walking the sideline last week and saying, ‘I’m hot, get me the ball,’ ” teammate Dexter Carter said. “He wasn’t lying. He’s a big piece of the puzzle here, and if we want to get to the Super Bowl, Ricky needs to get his carries.”

Watters carried the ball eight times against the Cowboys earlier this season in a 26-17 loss to Dallas. At the time, he had not yet been touched by maturity and was seen yelling at an assistant coach while walking from the field.

His diatribe continued later for the benefit of reporters:

“How many times did Emmitt Smith carry the ball? Is he a tailback? What am I? A tailback, so that right there speaks for itself. I’m the starting tailback here; a good starting tailback is supposed to carry the ball. Simple as that. That’s how it has been since I’ve been in grade school.”

The 49ers used Watters as a decoy and lined him up as a wide receiver against the Cowboys, while Smith ran 27 times for 92 yards.

“I don’t know why that was that way,” Watters said at the time. “They (coaches) know what happened. There are grown men up there doing that.”

Maturity, however, has tempered Watters’ present-day remarks.

“If I weren’t to (carry the ball much) and we still win the game, then that would be all right with me,” he said Wednesday. “I mean, hey, let’s just get to Atlanta.”

Watters, at 6 feet 1 and 212 pounds, carried the ball 208 times for 950 yards this season, but missed three games because of a knee injury. A year ago he ran for 1,013 yards with two fewer attempts.

“Ricky meets all challenges,” 49er tight end Jamie Williams said. “And he knows how to get the other team’s attention. A good example of that is his first game against the Giants last year. They got so caught up into trying to shut this young guy’s mouth that they forgot about some other people.

“He talks a good game and he can handle it.”

Watters’ boundless energy is accepted almost as if it were part of the 49ers’ weekly game plan. After the wife of one of the team’s assistant coaches sang the national anthem before a game this season, Watters broke ranks, ran onto the field and kissed her.

A week ago he sprinted around Candlestick Park and slapped the hands of fans before the game.

“My teammates are very businesslike in the huddle,” Watters said. “I do most of the talking.”

When he scores, he struts, and then he carries on for the fans’ entertainment. Tom Rathman advised Watters before the start of this season that he was going to be a marked man because his flashy antics on the field had irritated opponents.

Watters didn’t know what he was talking about.

“To be a showboat,” Watters said, “means you’re making a conscious effort. You’re making it a point to show these people up. But as long as it’s spontaneous, it’s just me playing football.”

When he gets hit hard on a tackle, Watters likes to jump quickly to his feet to show opponents they won’t be able to keep him down. His displays of emotion, coupled with his running commentary, bring a knowing chuckle from teammates.

“He’s kind of funny to me,” Williams said. “He’ll get going and in the huddle we’ll say, ‘Time to turn the water on.’

“He’s got so much energy, I guess he can waste it. I mean he used to go ballistic at times, but now he seems to keep cool. You could say he’s learning how to channel it better.

“It was like he had to go, go, go, and prove to people he was a good player. I think he’s starting to realize that people know he’s a good player. He’s still spiking the ball between his legs when he scores and saluting the fans, but he’s, you know, more mature.”

This Sunday Watters plays against the Cowboys, and the winner earns a trip to the Super Bowl. Given such theater, a spontaneous Watters might be too much to behold. But then maturity settles a man down.

“I’m going to be a lot more focused, simply because I know some things now that I didn’t know the last time we played them in the championship game,” Watters said. “You have to put more time in studying the plays, all the plays, focusing on them. A lot of times you can get caught up in the whole event and start worrying about things like how am I going to look on camera and is my tape job nice.

“You have to get down to basics and concern yourself with what it takes to win the game.”

How mature, but how boring.

“I have to conserve myself,” Watters told reporters Sunday after scoring his five touchdowns. “I’m getting older now. I’m getting more mature.”

Even he had to laugh.