Deshaun Watson pitches his tent in the moment. And why wouldn’t he, the view of the present being so lush?
Longer view, he figures to have a sustained effect on Clemson even if he takes the communications-studies degree he earned in three years and leaves early to communicate with an NFL huddle. The Tigers will continue to benefit from the Watson Bump regardless. More on the afterglow in a moment.
Clemson and its Georgia-raised, almost-Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback have put themselves back in the championship survivor pool a second consecutive year. After narrowly avoiding a national championship a season ago vs. Alabama, they find themselves right back in the pudding against another elite property, Ohio State, in the Fiesta Bowl.
If you want to quibble over Watson’s overall status this year — about how he has not been quite his old computer-generated, dynamic self, how he has rushed for half as many yards as a year ago while throwing a couple of more interceptions — have at it.
You’ll get no back-up from the Clemson inner circle.
“I think Deshaun is so good he made people numb to it,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said.
And this, right from the quarterback’s mouth: “Maybe outside people think the level of my play has gone down. It’s hard for a player to have success and then the next year be bad all of a sudden. How I played in the Bama game set the expectation way up here (the best player on the field in last season’s national championship game, Watson threw for 405 yards and rushed for 73 more).
“If I don’t meet that expectation each and every week, people think I had a downfall. Which is not true.”
“There are a lot of eyes on me. I must be doing something got to get all this attention.”
Be also warned that Watson — while he suffered eight of his interceptions in some of the Tigers’ high-profile games, against Louisville, FSU and a loss to Pitt — has been feeling much better lately. Ten-touchdowns-to-two-interceptions-in-his-past-three-games better.
Awaiting is Ohio State and its seven touchdown returns of interceptions this season.
Unblinking is the Clemson quarterback.
“I feel like, overall, being a quarterback, making plays and decisions, I’m playing the best football of my career. And that’s where it should be,” Watson said.
Yes, the next week — possibly more — holds much intrigue for the player who has cast the longest shadow over college football the last two years.
However Saturday’s semifinal plays out, and whether Clemson has a championship game encore in it, there is the urge to begin diving now into the deep waters of Watson and legacy. While he has announced nothing of substance, the young quarterback is positioned to fling himself into the NFL Draft. And then what for Clemson?
The Tigers would like to think of themselves as every bit as elite and consistently competitive as anyone out there, that bunch in Tuscaloosa included. There remains the one minor detail of hanging a national-championship banner just to underscore the claim.
Swinney never has been one to undersell Clemson’s status. “It’s going to happen, hopefully it’s this year. We’re going to win the national championship. Clemson will win multiple national championships as we move forward here. History is going to tell the tale. Regardless of if I’m here or not, it’s going to happen,” he said.
Watson, and to a lesser extent his predecessor at quarterback, Tajh Boyd, were central in making that kind of swagger possible. The quarterback has also played the role of rainmaker, attracting in equal measure top recruits and priceless publicity to this little corner of South Carolina.
There is new high-water mark staining the façade of this program, put there largely by Watson.
“You’re talking about a guy who has handled himself in an incredible way and demonstrated to everyone what the standard should look like. The guy’s a winner, he has lost three games in his entire career here,” Swinney said.
And then, already applying the finish to the Watson template he’ll be using on his future key players, Swinney added, “His accolades and statistics are all a part of it. But more is the example that he set for all the guys on this team and all the teams to come by how he’s led and his commitment to the standard we have set here.”
So, then, to review: All you have to do to be just like Watson is get your team into consecutive national playoffs, graduate in three years and became practically the official greeter at the Heisman ceremony.
Testified the fellow who has initiated every play — memorable or otherwise — center Jay Guillermo, “He’s done everything the right way, not like he has cut any corners. He does uncommon things that are mind-blowing. To have him as my quarterback is so special.”
And apparently if you are a promising high school quarterback from Georgia, it is now very cool to follow the footsteps of Gainesville’s Watson. The Tigers have commitments from Grayson High’s Chase Brice (class of 2017) and a quarterback labeled the top player in the class of 2018, Cartersville’s Trevor Lawrence.
“There’s a lot of great talent coming in. It’ll be fun to watch those guys and see what they do to continue to take this program to greater heights,” Watson said.
Yes, he lives in the moment, a very promising moment. But the view downrange isn’t bad, either. “This program is going to continue to grow and win a lot more games and just continue to play for championships,” Watson assured.
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