By Will Vandervort.

When Clemson played NC State in Raleigh, N.C., on a Thursday night last September, it was a homecoming of sorts for defensive tackle Carlos Watkins. For the first time, the 6-foot-3, 295-pound sophomore had the opportunity to play in front of his hometown folks of Mooresboro.

A lot of his family, friends and former teammates from Chase High School made the trek to see him play against the Wolfpack. Watkins, just like when he was in high school, did not disappoint them. He had his best game as a Tiger as he had four tackles in just 22 snaps.

“Carlos was about at the point where he was solidifying himself as the regular starter,” defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks said. “He was turning the corner. We felt he was on his way to becoming a really, really productive player for us.”

Two days later, Watkins’ life almost ended.

After getting the weekend off following the Tigers’ 26-14 win over NC State, Watkins joined his family and traveled back to Mooresboro where he was supposed to attend a cookout that following Saturday. And it was while traveling to that cookout when Watkins’ life forever changed.

Watkins was riding in a vehicle with two of his friends when the car lost control on a wet North Carolina state road. According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol the car hit a large power pole which snapped off about four feet up. The car rolled and the pole landed on the car.

“He came up on a turn and the car lost control,” Watkins recalled Tuesday as he talked to the media for the first time since the accident. “We spun out and hit a pole. I hit my head on a window. I was knocked out.”

One passenger—Dache Gossett—was ejected from the car and passed away at the scene, while Watkins was trapped in the passenger’s seat for two hours as rescuers cut live power lines then removed him from the car. Watkins was taken to a local hospital for treatment then transported to a trauma center in Asheville.

The driver was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured.

“That was a crazy day that I will never forget,” Watkins said.

“I had seen the pole as we were spinning. Then, when I woke up, I realized it was on my leg,” he continued. “My first instinct was to try and push it off of me, but it was like through the door and across my leg. I had to wait to get out of there. As I was sitting there, my legs were going to sleep and I could not feel my legs. They had to pretty much pull me out once I got free.

“I felt my toes and everything so I did not really think I had anything bad so I was just in shock at the time. I really did not know what to think. My first instinct – I just need to get out the car.”

Watkins did not know, until hours later, that Gossett had passed away. It was a chilling moment for him when he got the news. The scars on his arms and legs remind him every day of Gossett and how fast life can change.

“It showed me how quick things can change,” he said. “How quick life can be taken away. You really can’t take any day for granted. It really changed my frame of mind a lot.”

Watkins has not forgotten about Gossett either. He honors his childhood friend by writing his nickname—Sheets—on his cleats.

“Our families were real close,” Watkins said. “We were at his house pretty much every day. We grew up together. He was like a big brother to me. When I went home, he was the first person I hit up. We were real tight.”

Gossett was also a big Clemson fan and every time Watkins goes to work out, practices or puts on the Orange and White, he thinks about his good friend. It motivates him and keeps him pushing forward.

“I’m pretty sure he is looking down and telling me to go for it,” Watkins said.

And that is exactly what Watkins is doing. The redshirt sophomore says he is 100 percent again and feels like he can be the same type of player he was becoming before the tragic accident. The road to get back there has not been an easy one, but thanks to the love and supports of his family, friends, hometown, and of course, his Clemson teammates and coaches, Watkins has found his way back.

“It was good to get back to campus because I got my mind away from the accident,” he said. “They kept me uplifted. We sat around and played video games and they kept my laughing all the time. They supported me all the time so it was real good to get back and be around my teammates.”

When he got back to Clemson after the accident, Watkins could barely walk thanks to two large hematomas on his right and left legs. The one on his right leg was the worst as it caused him to drag is leg a little and first walk with a walker.

“They drained (the right leg) first and then I came back and they drained the next one,” he said. “The right leg took 20 minutes to drain. It had a lot of blood in it. It came back a few days later and they had to drain it again.”

Once Watkins got all the feeling back in his leg, Clemson’s trainers, led by Danny Poole, slowly started to get Watkins to jog and then run. Once he was running again, they turned him over to Joey Batson and the strength and conditioning team.

“My main goal was to just get healthy. I had to take it a step at a time,” Watkins said. “I knew I really did not do a lot of damage to my legs. It was just two big hematomas on my legs. Once they went down and I got my strength back, it was just a matter of gaining confidence. Once I got that back, I could get going again.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says Watkins has found his confidence again and is having a great camp, so far.

“He is back to being Carlos,” Swinney said. “He looks like he looked this time last year. You may remember that he started against Georgia last year. He had an unbelievable camp and earned that first start. He played well.

“The wreck really affected him mentally and physically and it took us a while to get him back, but he looks great. He had a great summer and he looks, very, very good. It is all in front of him.”

But it’s unlikely that September 21, 2013 will ever truly be behind him.

“It’s always going to be with me. It was a tragic incident. I just use it as a motivation. One reason is that I’m blessed to be here and I look at it that way,” Watkins said.

“I really feel blessed by God,” he continued. “He was there for me.”