Deshaun Watson: Defining his Clemson Tigers legacy

The Clemson Tigers were able to win the 2016 National Championship by beating the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, 35-31. This was due in large part to a herculean effort from junior quarterback Deshaun Watson. With nothing left to prove at the college level, Watson will enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

With Watson getting ready for life in professional football, how will we remember Watson as a collegiate quarterback? What is the legacy he will leave behind at Clemson?

Let’s start with his rise as a promising player coming out of high school.

Arriving at Clemson

Watson grew up in the football-obsessed state of Georgia. His hometown of Gainesville lies between Clemson and the University of Georgia. In Gainesville and other surrounding communities, it’s about a 50-50 split between people who want to see their Dawgs tee it up Between the Hedges or watch the Tigers slay another victim in Death Valley.

Watson committed to Clemson in February of 2012 and never wavered in his allegiance to Dabo Swinney’s improving ACC program. Clemson began to pick up steam under Swinney as the next emerging threat in college football. Swinney is a strong offensive mind and made Clemson a 10-win program in three years with quarterbacks like Cullen Harper and Tajh Boyd. However, he never landed a true blue-chip prospect like Watson before the five-star recruit arrived on campus in 2014.

Watson was the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the 2014 recruiting class and the No. 16 overall prospect in the 2014 ESPN 300. He was labeled as a dual-threat passer, but that was a stereotype Watson never really bought into. Sure, he had mobility, but he was an accurate passer who could thrive running then-offensive coordinator Chad Morris’ pro-style offense.

Freshman Year

When Swinney was about to hand the keys over to Chad Kelly in 2014, the nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Jim Kelly was dismissed from the team in April. This forced Swinney to go with Cole Stoudt as the starter, thus having to fast track Watson’s development as a true freshman.

Stoudt started the first three games of the 2014 season, but once he suffered an injury, that gave way to the young Watson to lead the Tigers. In eight games as a true freshman, Watson completed 67.9 percent of his passes for 1,466 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for 200 yards on 63 carries for five touchdowns.

The finest game of his freshman year was his first career start. He completed 75 percent of his passes for 435 yards, six touchdowns and one interception against the North Carolina Tar Heels. It was the first of many dominating performances from Watson in his college career. Clemson would win eight of its next nine games after starting the year 1-2.

Sophomore Year

Now the full-time starter as a true sophomore in 2015, he was far and away the best player in the ACC. He completed 67.8 percent of his passes for 4,109 yards, 35 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. On the ground, Watson carried the ball 207 times for 1,105 yards and 12 touchdowns. Watson was an All-American, won the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best quarterback and finished third in the Heisman Trophy race.

Watson guided his Tigers team to the 2016 National Championship Game. Although Clemson ended up losing to the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide in the biggest game of the year, 45-40, the college football world knew Watson was something special. Pro Football Focus believed that Watson was the most talented quarterback in college football last year, though he wasn’t yet draft eligible. Might he have gone ahead of California Golden Bears junior quarterback Jared Goff at No. 1 in the 2016 NFL Draft? That’s a question we’ll never know the answer to.

Though his 2015 Tigers didn’t win the national championship on that night in Arizona, it was Watson who stole the show. The sophomore completed 63.8 percent of his passes for 405 yards, four touchdowns and an interception against that vaunted Crimson Tide defense. He also added 73 yards on 20 carries on the ground, and it was no wonder Watson was a serious contender for the 2016 Heisman Trophy.

Junior Year

The hype was astronomical for Watson and Clemson heading into 2016. He may have been overshadowed by Alabama running back Derrick Henry and Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey in 2015, but Watson was clearly the best returning player in college football to many in 2016.

While Clemson kept winning, the Tigers looked flat for big stretches of September and October. Watson wanted to prove to NFL scouts he was a precise pocket passer and not the dual-threat he was labeled. His completion percentage dropped to 60 percent in September and he set a career-high in interceptions with 17. It appeared Watson’s reluctance to run hurt his overall play, and as a result of that, he may have held his team back a bit.

Coinciding with Watson’s trying September was the emergence of Louisville Cardinals sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson. It didn’t matter to the Heisman voters that Clemson defeated Louisville, 42-36, on October 1 at Memorial Stadium. They had already made up their minds even before that ACC Atlantic battle — Jackson would be anointed the best player in college football by claiming the Heisman, while Watson would just have to settle for another Davey O’Brien Award.

2016 National Championship

It isn’t the end of the world that Watson didn’t become Clemson’s first Heisman winner. That didn’t stop John Elway, Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck from doing big things at the next level. However, Watson was ready to do something none of those future No. 1 NFL Draft picks ever did: lead his team to a national championship.

The 2016 National Championship Game had Watson facing what was considered by some the greatest pass rush in college football history with this Alabama front. With players like defensive end Jonathan Allen, outside linebacker Ryan Anderson and inside linebacker Reuben Foster in the front-seven, it wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario where Watson would struggle moving the chains.

A few hits early in the game set the tone for Clemson’s first half against Alabama. An eight-yard keeper from Watson was Clemson’s only first half points against the Crimson Tide on Monday night. The Tigers would find themselves down 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Needing a spark, Clemson looked to its fearless leader and Watson delivered.

Clemson would outscore Alabama 21-7 in the final frame. Watson would flick a four-yard pass to a wide open Mike Williams in the end zone early in the fourth quarter to bring it within three 24-21 Alabama. After five straight possessions ending in punts, Watson and Williams would set up another drive capped off by a one-yard Wayne Gallman run to take a brief 28-24 lead.

Cementing Yourself In History

Alabama would get the ball back with 4:38 on the clock down four and the Crimson Tide would pick up a big fourth down. In a matter of seconds, Alabama would take back the lead 31-28 on a 30-yard Jalen Hurts rushing touchdown.

This set up what would be a college career-defining two-minute drive for Watson. He had 2:07 to make something happen. With a historically dominant Alabama pass rush going full blitzkrieg at him, Watson would conduct the greatest drive in Clemson football history. He completed 6-of-7 passes for 67 yards on that 68-yard drive.

With seconds left on the clock, he found Renfrow for six to slingshot Goliath Alabama to the tune of 35-31. The Clemson comeback orchestrated by Watson reminded us of Vince Young’s performance for the Texas Longhorns over the USC Trojans in the 2005 National Championship. The difference is that this was a shot of redemption for Watson. He had finally slain the Goliath that was the Saban era of Alabama football.

Watson’s Clemson Legacy

When we look back on Watson’s time in Clemson, we’ll remember the young kid from Gainesville, Georgia who got better every season, who wasn’t afraid to try new things to improve, who kept cool under immense pressure and a player who thrived in the clutch.

Watson will one day be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. He will go down as the greatest quarterback in Clemson history. Watson solidified a bedrock foundation for Swinney to land elite quarterback recruits like Hunter Johnson, who will succeed Watson.

His three-year tenure at Clemson helped transform the program into a national powerhouse for the foreseeable future. Watson was the fearless trail blazer for the emerging blue-blood that is Clemson football.