By Will Vandervort.

Patience is a virtue. It is not something you are just born with. It’s a practice that takes time to acquire or learn.

Though quarterback Cole Stoudt was not born with this great quality, he sure did acquire it at an early age. Few in today’s world of college athletics would have stayed as patient as Stoudt was to get his shot at being Clemson’s starting quarterback.

“I admire Cole a lot. I don’t know if could have done it,” former Tiger signal-caller Tajh Boyd said.

Stoudt watched Boyd start the first 40 games of his college career, while guiding the Tigers to an ACC Championship and three straight 10-plus win seasons. He was on the sidelines and witnesses two of Clemson’s more dramatic moments in the last 25 years as Boyd led the Tigers to wins over mighty LSU in the 2012 Chic-fil-A Bowl and Ohio State in the 2014 Orange Bowl Classic.

Cliff Stoudt, Cole’s father, understands that more than anyone. He was on the sidelines for the first six seasons of his NFL career as Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw led the Pittsburgh Steelers to victories over the Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowls XIII and XIV.

But waiting his turn behind a legend still did not keep Cliff from thinking his youngest of three children might be better off somewhere else.

“If there was ever any talk of transferring it came from me,” Cliff said. “I said, ‘Cole, you might want to think about it especially since you burned your redshirt year having to play as a freshman.’

“But he never wavered. He just said, ‘Dad, I love it here. Even if I only get one year, this is where I want to stay.’”

Cole’s loyalty to Clemson paid off somewhat in the spring when head coach Dabo Swinney named him his starting quarterback after an intense battle with Chad Kelly and freshman Deshaun Watson.

After an off the field incident and some heated discussions between Swinney and offensive coordinator Chad Morris, Kelly was dismissed from the team, which obviously helped in Swinney’s decision to name Stoudt the starter a week after the spring game.

But don’t think that was the only reason. Stoudt outshined Kelly in the spring game and in most practices. He was called by Morris as “Steady Eddie” throughout the 15 practices.

“I try not to listen to what other people say, like, ‘Oh you won it by default.’ I kind of spin it like, ‘Alright, it is sad, but everything has been done and we are going to move on from here and we are going to make the team better and strive to be our best,’” Cole said.

Cole says he has never once thought he should be the starter based on the fact he had been in the system the longest and was the elder statesmen of the group. He said he still has to go out there and perform because there is no lifetime contract for a quarterback or anyone else on the team.

“You have to go out there and try your best,” he said. “You still have to perform and show that you can be the guy. So every day I kind of went out there and did the best that I could do being a leader and always having a positive attitude to all the guys.

“I think it kind of went that way throughout the spring.”

Cliff’s three children—Cydnei and Zack are Cole’s siblings—weren’t born when he was Bradshaw’s backup in Pittsburgh, but he has been able to take them back to some alumni events and they became part of the Steelers’ family.

“They know some of those guys. My daughter and both sons have been back a lot,” Cliff said. “They really cherish that Pittsburgh Steelers’ memories. The whole thing I told them about what a family it was and how we all got along, I think that is why Cole has never wavered in his stance on, ‘Clemson is where I’m going to be. I love it here. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.’ He wants to be a Clemson Tiger and he will be for the rest of his life.”

And that’s where the similarities and the virtues between father and son lay the most.