THE LOWE DOWN

One of a kind: Watson leads Clemson to new heights

Matt Lowe

December 29, 2015 at 10:20 pm.

Deshaun Watson is one of the top talent's in college football. (Jeremy Brevard-USA) TODAY Sports

Deshaun Watson is one of the top talent’s in college football. (Jeremy Brevard-USA) TODAY Sports

Just one look. That’s all it took for Dabo Swinney after he saw first-hand what type of talent Deshaun Watson was while the future Tiger quarterback was attending Clemson’s annual football camp as a teenager.

“Everybody knew about Deshaun,” Swinney recalled. “He came to camp in the ninth grade and we offered him early and built a great relationship with him. We hit it off right out of the gate, especially when we got his mom up here a few times. He felt like this was the best place for him.”

High school football is extremely competitive in the state of Georgia. It always has been. But special talents are special talents and Watson displayed those characteristics early on at Gainesville High School (Gainesville, Ga.) when he won the school’s starting quarterback job as a true freshman.

Watson committed to Clemson following his sophomore season. He then led Gainesville to its first state title in over 100 years as a junior before concluding his senior season as the state’s career record holder for total offense (17,134), touchdowns (218), passing yards (13,077) and passing touchdowns (155) in addition to earning state player of the year honors as a sophomore, junior and senior — an amazing feat considering the talent pool in the Peach State.

“He called me on signing day of his sophomore year of high school and committed,” Swinney said. “We knew he was going to be the best and it didn’t take long for others to see that. Everybody tried to recruit him and tried to change his mind, and he’s been exactly what we thought he would be.”

Before hand and knee injuries derailed his rookie season at Clemson, Watson proved why he was such a highly coveted player as a prep. In his first career start against North Carolina, ironically the team the Tigers beat to win the ACC title and advance to the College Football Playoff for the first time, Watson completed 27 of 36 passes for 435 yards and a single-game school record six touchdowns in a wild 50-35 win.

But tough luck would find Watson soon after his dazzling performance against Larry Fedora’s team when he broke a bone in his right hand against Louisville — which forced him to miss three games.

He returned to the lineup, and his home state, when the Tigers traveled to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech a few weeks later, but Watson injured his knee and was forced to exit the game in a 28-6 loss.

The following week it was revealed Watson had a torn ACL, but he avoided surgery. And in the season finale against rival South Carolina, he played and performed well in leading the Tigers to a 35-17 win, which snapped a five-game losing streak to the Gamecocks.

“I knew I was going to feel some pain because I wasn’t 100 percent,” Watson said. “I just go out with a confident mindset and have fun.”

Watson had offseason surgery on his knee after Clemson whipped Oklahoma — the Tigers opponent in the College Football Playoff semifinals — in the Russell Athletic Bowl. But he came back ready to lead his team to bigger and better things in 2015. And his coach knew that anything was possible with a superstar QB leading the way.

“If you look at any championship team out there, most of them have a great quarterback and leader,” Swinney said. “That’s what we have. It’s a huge advantage when you have the best player in the nation.”

Just like in high school, Watson continued his ascension into being one of college football’s elite players as a sophomore. In addition to passing for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns (69.5 percent completion rate), he hurt teams with his legs, rushing for 887 yards and 11 scores. He also maintained his status as a good pre-snap decision-maker (11 interceptions in 413 attempts) while exuding poise in the pocket after the play goes live.

“He’s just a confident player. He knows what we’re doing,” Swinney said. “He’s well coached; he’s very smart and that’s why he’s a great player. He studies and prepares during the week. He doesn’t get overwhelmed.

“Maybe he has a bad series or makes a bad play, but he doesn’t carry that over. He’s a very confident guy because he prepares so well. When you are prepared for anything, you aren’t scared.

“We get in the play and sometimes he had a bad look, so he checks us into a better play. That’s what good players do. We’re not one of those teams that tell our quarterback what to do all the time. Our quarterbacks are trained to do a lot of different things. That’s why he’s tough to beat.”

With the win over UNC in the ACC Championship Game, Watson broke Homer Jordan’s school record for wins (12) in a season by a starting QB when he notched his 13th victory. He also took home the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best quarterback and finished third in the Heisman Trophy race, the best finish of any player in Clemson history.

In somewhat of a head scratcher, Watson and the Tigers enter their Jan. 31 matchup with the Sooners as an underdog despite being the top seed in the four-team tournament. In fact, some Oklahoma players believe they have faced a much tougher opponent at quarterback playing in the high-scoring Big 12.

“I think (TCU’s) Trevone (Boykin) is the best athlete we’ve ever seen, (and) he’s probably the best athlete we’ll see,” OU defensive back Zack Sanchez said. “Deshaun’s a bigger guy. He’s not as swift on his feet as Trevone is. There aren’t a lot of guys that are. Not to say anything about Deshaun that he’s a bad athlete, but Trevone’s a different animal.”

All season long Clemson, and Watson, have bowled over every team standing in their path. And regardless if the media or an opposing player thinks that the Tigers don’t have it in them to win the whole shebang, Watson is confident in his ability to take what the Sooners want to dish out. And that’s why Swinney’s Tigers may be the last team standing when it’s all said and done.

“You know, it’s on them,” Watson said of the Sooners game plan to show him different looks on defense. “I didn’t throw 3,500 yards for no reason. I feel like I’m dangerous either way.”