By Will Vandervort.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney says Deshaun Watson will be the 17th-ranked Tigers starting quarterback when they visit Georgia Tech this Saturday in Atlanta.
The freshman quarterback has missed the last three games after breaking his finger in the first quarter of Clemson’s win over Louisville on Oct. 11. The Tigers won all three games and ride a six-game winning streak into Bobby Dodd Stadium for the noon kickoff that will be televised by ESPN.
“He will be back,” Swinney said. “He will take all the first-team reps (today) and will be ready to go.”
The Clemson coach said Watson was ready to play at Wake Forest last week and there was a brief discussion about bringing him in last Thursday after Cole Stoudt reinjured his left shoulder in the second quarter of the Tigers’ 34-20 win.
“We wanted to try and get through the game and not play him, and it was able to work out” Swinney said. “We never really felt like we did not have control of the game. But he was ready to go if we needed him and at one point it was a possibility he would go.
“We weren’t sure Cole would rebound and come back in there, but he was able to gut it out.”
Before breaking his finger against Louisville, Watson was the talk of the college football world after he came off the bench and nearly beat second-ranked Florida State on the road and then totaled 10 touchdowns in blowout victories over North Carolina and NC State to begin the Tigers’ six-game winning streak.
So far this season, he has thrown for 1,176 yards and 12 touchdowns to just two interceptions in six games. He has completed 67 percent of his 112 attempts and his 187.0 passing efficiency rating would lead the country if he was eligible.
Watson’s return instantly gives a jolt to a Clemson offense that was struggling in his absence. After leaving the Louisville game, the Tigers averaged just 357.3 yards and 22.5 points per game. They averaged 476 yards and 36 points per game in the three games when Watson was the primary starter prior to his injury.
Swinney said they are just amazed he was able to get back so soon.
“We felt pretty confident he would be back for Georgia Tech, but I was really blown away that he was ready to play against Wake and could have played,” Swinney said. “That is just a credit to how hard he worked and the great job our doctors and trainers did in rehabbing him.”