Clemson football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Clemson football was not necessarily the most successful program when Charlie Whitehurst was at the helm of the offense under Tommy Bowden. Their best season under the quarterback’s direction was a 9-4 campaign when he was a sophomore and, though they made a bowl game in three of the four seasons, they weren’t nearly at the level that they started to reach under Dabo Swinney and future quarterbacks.

Having said that, Whitehurst undoubtedly made his mark on the Tigers program. A four-year starter at quarterback, he led the team to two bowl victories, including a win in the Peach Bowl to conclude the aforementioned 2003 season. More importantly, he became the first quarterback in Clemson history to go 4-0 against rival South Carolina in his career, which is quite important to the Tigers faithful.

Moreover, Whitehurst ranks third all-time at Clemson in career passing yards with 9,665 and fourth all-time in career passing touchdowns. So while he was never perfect, there’s no question that he’s one of the best Tigers quarterbacks ever, particularly before the Swinney era that produced many all-time greats at the position.

The then-San Diego Chargers selected Whitehurst in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft but he became a career backup thereafter. He spent 2006-16 in the league but played in only 26 games and made only nine career starts as well, going 2-7 in those starts. Whitehurst’s biggest claim to fame is his “Clipboard Jesus” persona stemming from his time spent as a backup with long hair and facial hair holding the clipboard and not seeing the field.