By Will Vandervort.

It is kind of fitting that Deshaun Watson returns to action on Saturday against No. 23 Georgia Tech. After all, he grew up right down the road from Atlanta in Gainesville, Ga., where he set the Georgia state records for total yards and total touchdowns at Gainesville High School.

The state of Georgia is also where Watson made his college debut, throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Charone Peake in the season opener at the University of Georgia in Athens.

“Going back to Georgia and living down the road from Atlanta and Georgia Tech, I have a lot of friends that are Georgia Tech fans so it will be fun to get back there and play again,” Watson said.

It should be fun for No. 17 Clemson, too, who will be getting back its record-setting quarterback after he missed the last three games and most of the Louisville game after he broke his right index finger.

“We’re excited about getting Deshaun back,” Clemson offensive coordinator Chad Morris said Monday. “Obviously, we knew how he was playing before he got hurt and what he brought to the whole dynamic of things. So he being back is good.”

Before he got injured in the Louisville game, Watson had already set several freshman and team records in his first two games as a starter. He set the all-time record for touchdown passes in a game with six in the Tigers win over North Carolina and by the end of the NC State victory he already set the record for yards and touchdowns throw by a freshman in Clemson history.

Now healthy once again, Watson and Morris say he can do everything as well as he could before the injury. That has Clemson fans’ expectations high heading into their annual rivalry game with Georgia Tech.

But Watson says he can’t worry about what expectations people have for him. His are the only ones that matter.

“I have my own, and that is to be the best quarterback I can be and the best teammate that I can be,” Watson said.

Watson isn’t worried about his finger either. He says he has not felt any pain in the finger since his surgery last month. He also says he isn’t worried about suffering another injury to it either.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound freshman broke his index finger when it got caught in the facemask of a Louisville defender while trying to break a tackle.

“It is just football. If I go into the game thinking about reinjuring it or messing it up, then I will not play the best I can,” he said. “I just have to go in there and focus on my task and my role and not worry about my hand.”

Watson admitted the last four games have been nerve wracking to watch on the sideline, but he says it was an experience that made him appreciate playing even more. The Boston College, Syracuse and Wake Forest games were the first three games of his playing career at any level that he has missed.

“After each down and each play you have to go out there and play your all because you never know when that moment is when you can’t play again,” he said. “This injury could have been a lot worse but I was blessed enough to have a small injury, sit out and see the game from the coaches’ side and be on the sideline. It made me appreciate it even more.”

And it made him learn a little more, too.

“Every day I try to learn something new and sitting out the past four weeks made my mental game even better,” Watson said. “I watch more film. I see the game from the coaches’ perspective that way the next time I go out there. I make sure I’m ready.”

The freshman said the rehab wasn’t all that easy as he had to learn how to grip and hold the football without any pain. He has also use stretchy balls, rubber bands and moved his fingers constantly to strengthen his fingers.

“It’s just little things like that trying to work the muscle in,” he said. “I just have to go out there (Saturday) doing what I have to do. If you go out there thinking about being injured, you are not going to play the best. My mentality is to still dominant and the standard is still to be the best.”