By Will Vandervort.

When offensive guard David Beasley saw Cole Stoudt come onto the field to replace injured quarterback Deshaun Watson, he thought to himself, “Wow! What is he doing out here? He is hurt.”

But Stoudt, who injured the AC joint in his left shoulder the week before against NC State, did not complain. Instead he stayed on the field and fought through the pain in helping No. 22 Clemson beat Louisville 23-17 this past Saturday in Death Valley.

“I was proud of him. He was a little banged up. He was hurt,” Beasley said Monday from the WestZone in Memorial Stadium. “He had not practiced all week. I had talked to him that Monday. I was like, ‘Wow!’ I didn’t know what was going on, but he came in the game and played his heart out.

“He was really hurt. I don’t even know if he was fifty percent.”

It was a gutsy effort for the senior quarterback who three weeks earlier was benched for Watson. Not only did he have to swallow his pride and come back in after losing his job, but he also had to play through the pain every time a Louisville defender hit him in the left shoulder.

“It was a very tough situation,” Stoudt said, “especially after losing my job and having to come in when you get hurt. It is a tough situation, but I knew it was mental thing and it is all a mindset and you just have to tune that out.

“I knew that I was hurting a little bit, but I knew I could drive through it and I wanted to do everything I could to help the team win.”

And by doing so Stoudt gained the respect of his teammates, even more so than the positive way in which he handled the situation after losing his job. Teammates like Beasley and others told them how proud they were of him and how he put the needs of the team above his own.

“There were only two ways you could handle it,” the quarterback said. “One was to say, ‘Screw this’ and the other was to go in and make a difference. You can stay a senior leader and step up and try to improve others around you, and that is what I did.”

Beasley says he has no doubt that Stoudt can lead the Tigers, not only this Saturday at Boston College, but no matter how long Watson is out.

“Cole is going to lead us in the right direction,” the left guard said.

And that makes Stoudt feel good, knowing so many of his teammates respect and admire the way he has handled the whole situation the last three weeks.

“There were a few guys that have come up to me and told me they were proud of me on how I handled it and how I battled through it all,” Stoudt said. “They were saying I was like a warrior, like a gladiator playing through the whole game.

“They were proud of me, but I could not be more proud of them for sticking with me and helping me get through the game and making me better too. They were bringing me along and that was the biggest thing. They helped me more than anything.

“I’m happy because it shows what kind of team we have and how much we all really care for each other.”