By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — Facing a first-and-goal situation from the four-yard line with just over nine minutes to play last Saturday, Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd noticed Auburn lined up a defensive back in press coverage on wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
With a running play to Andre Ellington called, Boyd looked at Hopkins and quickly changed the play. He then proceeded to loft a perfectly thrown ball to the right corner of the end zone where Hopkins made a picture perfect catch for a touchdown.
At the time, it gave Clemson a four-point lead with 9:17 to play in the game. As it turned out, it was the winning touchdown in the 12th-ranked Tigers’ 26-19 victory.
“Coach (Chad) Morris gives me a lot of room to change or get out of certain plays,” Boyd said Tuesday. “You don’t want to get to the point where you are doing it, but you are not doing the right thing. I try to put the team in the best situation as possible.”
Boyd’s check-with-me audible on the touchdown pass to Hopkins is an example of just how far he has come since last season. In Week 9 at Georgia Tech last year, Boyd made the same call near the goal line, this time throwing the fade towards wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
But Watkins was not on the same page as Boyd. He instead cut the route short and turned up inside thinking Boyd was throwing a slant, while the defensive back followed the ball and made an easy interception in the end zone to stymie a potential touchdown.
Over the off-season, Boyd worked countless hours with his wide receivers to make sure what happened in Atlanta last year, would not happen again.
“Throughout the summer you get more comfortable with your receivers and you just kind of know, ‘In this situation, I’m coming to you,’” Boyd said. “ We have grown so much as a team and as players here that I really do have an understanding of what these guys are going to do and vice versa.”
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said Boyd’s decision making in plays like the one to Hopkins played a big role in why the Tigers walked out of the Georgia Dome with their first victory there since 2004. Swinney says he checked in and out of plays correctly and he made good decisions on when it came down to tucking the ball and running or making the right call on a zone read option.
“There was the third down late in the game where he ran around and got the first down. I was really pleased with him in that regard,” Swinney said. “We probably had 10 completions that were not even passing plays. They were run calls that had built-in options.
“The touchdown pass to Nuk was a run call all the way. He did a good job with his protections, too. He did a good job in the running game. It was good to see him being very disciplined.”
Boyd says that’s just all part of the maturation of him as a player and in the second year of Morris’ offense.
“That comes with experience,” the Clemson quarterback said. “One of the challenges Coach Morris proposed to me during the off-season was how do we respond from adversity. Ever since I have come to Clemson, I have grown each year and I think it is really starting to show somewhat.
“At the end of the day, being the quarterback, the team needs you. You can’t act or look a certain way and not expect those guys to respond to what you are doing. They look at what you do. Every time I’m in that situation, there is a certain way in which you have to carry yourself.”
Boyd says there are things he still needs to do better, and there are a few things the offense needs to get better at too. He was disappointed they did not finish off drives when they got into the red zone and settled for four Chandler Catanzaro field goals.
“I feel like those were four touchdowns we could have had,” he said. “Looking at the film, there is so much out there for us. I want us to be perfect, but at the same time, that’s the exciting part about it. We will get better because of the type of players and the explosiveness that we have. All we can do is grow from it.
“The challenge now is to keep pushing that pedal to the metal.”
As long as defenses keep showing Boyd one-on-one coverage on players like Hopkins and Watkins, he is going to do just that.
“We look at that like they are being disrespected,” Boyd said. “We feel like we have some of the best players in the country. If they are going to put someone one-on-one on our guy, and press out there, we want to see what they have.
“Nuk is one of the best go get the ball at the highest point receivers that there is. I feel like I had to take the matchup. There were no signals or anything of that nature. It was kind of like I looked at him, and he looked at me, and it was like, ‘Let’s go.’
“It’s exciting working with a guy like that. We have plenty of playmakers. I’m like the point guard. I’m just dishing the ball out to guys that are going to make the plays, and I’m just excited to have weapons like that.”