It was in the spring when quarterback Deshaun Watson announced Clemson’s goal for the 2015 football season was not to just win an ACC Championship, but a national championship as well.
His statement way back in March wasn’t taken too serious at the time, but nine months later here the Tigers sit. They are the top-ranked team in the country and a win this Saturday over No. 8 North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game can go a long way in fulfilling Watson’s prophecy.
“There was never any doubt,” Watson said on Monday. “This is one of our goals and it is what we have been working towards in the off-season. We came in before fall camp, and said this is where we want to be.
“We knew it was going to take a lot of grinding, a lot of hard work and dedication and just staying focused on the path. That’s what we have been doing.”
The path has not been an easy one. In the summer there were some off the field distractions such as Ebenezer Ogundeko’s dismissal from the team, Ammon Lakip’s arrest and suspension, Isaiah Battle’s sudden bolt for the NFL and then D.J. Reader’s mysterious hiatus just before the season opener.
During the season, the Tigers lost starting wide receiver Mike Williams to a neck injury on the first drive of the year, the state of South Carolina was hit with one of the biggest rain storms and flooding it has ever experienced in October. Then Clemson became the number one team in the country, which included all the distractions and expectations that surround that lofty status.
“For me, I’m just keeping life simple and being the same me as I was before,” Watson said. “I’m just staying a normal person. I’m not making this situation bigger than what it is. I’m just embracing it and having fun with it.”
Watson has had fun, and his performance on the field the last eight weeks has brought him to the front of the Heisman Trophy line and on the cover of Sports Illustrated – just the second Clemson athlete to ever do so.
“I have just been staying focused and blocking out the noise and the distractions and just focusing on this team and what I can do and what I can control,” he said. “Right now, it has been working out for us.”
It has. This past Saturday, Clemson completed its first 12-0 regular season in history, and its first undefeated season since 1981, the only time the Tigers have won a national championship to this point.
Watson is in the middle of an historic season himself. He is a finalist for several national awards as the best player and the best quarterback in College Football, and he will more than likely be invited to New York to participate in the Heisman Trophy Presentation on Dec. 12.
“Right now it is about the team. Without the team, I wouldn’t be one of the finalists for those awards,” he said. “It’s not just me working and achieving those goals. It is this whole team. Everyone is pushing me, motivating me, and supporting me.”
Watson has completed 70.4 percent of his passes this season for 3,223 yards and 27 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 756 yards and is tied for the team lead with nine rushing touchdowns. In last week’s win over South Carolina, he threw for 279 yards and rushed for 114 more, while accounting for four of the Tigers’ five touchdowns.
Each week the hype and the pressure gets bigger and bigger, but Watson just embraces it and doesn’t let it consume him. Yes, this is what he has always dreamed about, but it isn’t who he is.
He is still the same kid who used to play his video game and guide his favorite player to win the Heisman Trophy. He is still the same kid who watched guys like Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston win it in real life.
“It’s Just dreaming and working like one day I’m going to be at that stage, so I’m going to embrace it, have fun with it,” Watson said. “I’ve never been to New York, so it would be my first time. Me and my mom are going to enjoy that if we get that.”
He is going to get it, and he knew he would. He knew it way back in March. Now he and the Tigers are on the doorstep, and all they have to do is open the door and go through.