By Kaila Burns-Heffner.

Clemson finished off the 2014 football season as the No. 15 ranked team in the nation by both the Coaches and AP polls, blew out Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl, achieved their fourth straight 10-win season and secured the title of the best defense in the nation.

The Tigers were also awarded many other honors throughout the season, but one of the most important things Clemson discovered — there is a promise for a very bright future on offense.

Freshmen Deshaun Watson, Artavis Scott and Wayne Gallman made names for themselves in 2014, and their success has just begun.

“It’s really nothing magical in the plays, its having guys out there that can make guys miss and having speed to get to the second level. I’m just really proud for those guys, especially being young guys. They’ve got bright futures ahead of them,” said co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott.

Clemson’s offense was plagued with injury in the 2014 season, causing adversity for the Tigers, which lead to a few close and low-scoring games. However, the emergence of young offensive leaders brought success to Clemson, nonetheless.

Watson won the starting quarterback position over senior Cole Stoudt after the Florida State game. He then led Clemson to a 50-35 victory over North Carolina and a 41-0 shutout over North Carolina State, before he broke his finger in the first quarter of the Louisville game. He was then forced to sit out until the Georgia Tech game where he went down with a knee injury near the end of the first quarter.

Like a warrior, Watson returned two weeks later to lead Clemson to a 35-17 victory over arch rival South Carolina. News broke right after the game that Watson played the entire game with a torn ACL, which occurred at Georgia Tech. But he showed how special of an athlete he is by completing 14 of 19 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns along with two rushing scores of his own, all the while having a surgery-requiring injury.

“You have to tip your hat to that number four,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Man, I have been doing this a long time—25 years for me in college football—he is special.”

In his short time on the field, Watson broke many records, won countless honors, and showed that he is capable of leading Clemson to victory in difficult circumstances. In his first drive of his college career, he completed a 29-yard pass, then a 30-yard touchdown pass. In his first career start over UNC, he set a school record by throwing for 435 yards and six touchdowns.

“He tied the all-time ACC record and he added some rushing yards. He makes the game look easy. He makes it look slow. He just kind of floats around, creates and extends plays. He just has a poise about him that is unique, especially for a guy that is a freshman,” Swinney said.

The Tigers have a quarterback that they can trust to make plays, and the chemistry that he has with Scott and Gallman is undeniable.

USA Today’s first-team freshman All-American wide receiver, Scott, had an incredible first season, while breaking records along the way. In his first home game against South Carolina State, he set the Clemson record for freshmen receiving yards in a game with a game-high of 164 yards, breaking Sammy Watkins’s record.

Against South Carolina he set a record for the most receiving yards by any player in the rivalry’s history with 185 yards on seven catches, including touchdowns of 53 and 70 yards. The 185 yards also set a new mark for a Clemson wide receiver in Death Valley. Scott followed that up with eight catches for 114 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown against Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl the following month.

The Florida native finished the season with a team-high 76 receptions for 965 yards and eight touchdowns. He was fourth in the ACC for receptions per game.

Running back Wayne Gallman also became a go-to guy last season, and will be an integral part of the offense moving forward. Gallman started off the season slow, but gained 486 yards and two touchdowns on 89 carries in his last four games against ACC or SEC opponents. For the season, he had a team-high 769 yards and four touchdowns on 161 carries.

Gallman also recorded the most number of rushing yards against South Carolina since 1974 with his career-high 191 yards. He won both ACC Rookie of the week honors and offensive player of the game titles multiple times.

“As I said at the beginning of the season, ya’ll are going to like Wayne Gallman. At some point, he is going to be a really good player,” said Swinney. “He is just like Artavis, he is a worker. He takes so much pride in his preparation. It is very important to him to be a great player. It is very important for Wayne to come through for his teammates.”

There was a time where Clemson fans wondered if the Tigers could fill the void left by Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins, but these record-breaking freshmen have shown they are more than capable of doing the job. These freshmen are the future and the future looks exciting.