The plan was to get Charone Peake involved early, make him feel comfortable and build his confidence.

So on the first possession, on third down-and-11 from his own 36-yard line, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson threw the ball towards Peake’s direction. It was a good idea, but perhaps not the right throw to make at that time.

Peake, who was replacing Mike Williams on the boundary side of the field, was blanket by two defenders and Appalachian State’s Latrell Gibbs stabbed the ball out of the air for the interception.

“I just let it get away from me a little bit,” Watson said following the Tigers’ 41-10 victory on Saturday. “It was not a good throw.”

Watson went to Peake two more times on the Tigers’ next possession but he still was not having any luck getting his 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior involved. On the next drive, Peake finally caught a pass, but it went for a 2-yard loss.

At this point, the Clemson offense had done very little with the exception of a 59-yard drive that ended with a Greg Huegel 39-yard field goal. But that was it. Clemson’s offense was struggling and maybe they were missing Williams more than they thought they might.

But Watson did not give up on Peake, and in the second quarter his determination paid off. With the Tigers’ leading App State, 10-0, in the second quarter, Watson found Peake in the back of the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown pass that was a combination of a perfect throw and a perfect pass.

“He’s a guy who has been around. He’s a vet. He’s been doing this through camp and practice for us so there wasn’t a whole ton of pressure for him,” Watson said. “He just needed to be himself and do what he knows how to do best and that’s what he did.”

Peake and Watson hooked up again later in the quarter when Watson spotted Peake slipping past the secondary. Watson launched a bomb that traveled nearly 60 yards in the air before coming down in Peake’s arm around the two-yard line.

All in all, the play covered 59 yards and gave the Tigers a 31-0 lead with 1:56 to play in the first half.

“That was a long throw. That’s a long pass right there,” Peake said. “I didn’t even know he had thrown it my way, or that he could even reach me, until I looked up and saw it coming down.”

Peake finished the day with four catches for 86 yards. The two touchdowns marked the first time in his career he scored multiple touchdowns in the same game.

“It felt pretty good. It was a lot different playing today from the last game, being used more, but it felt good to get out there and play fast,” Peake said.

“It felt good. I take pride in knowing I can be a guy that can be counted on,” he continued later on.

His position coach, and the Tigers co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott, never had any doubt in Peake’s ability to get the job done.

“It was good for Charone, but it was not a surprise for us coaches,” Scott sad. “We have seen it through spring and fall camp. It was really a matter of Charone getting those opportunities and then capitalizing on them, and he did.

“That was a great first catch he made over there in the end zone and Deshaun put it exactly where it needed to be. The other one Deshaun threw like 73 yards in the air it seemed like, and sometimes those balls that are in the air for a long time are real difficult to catch. I was real happy for Charone.”