It is a play Tajh Boyd still cannot forget.

It was during practice one afternoon in training camp in the summer of 2014 when New York Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg called a play into Boyd’s helmet. Boyd heard the play, a play he knew and repeated back to himself several times before getting to the huddle.

However, when Boyd stepped inside the huddle, his mind went blank.

“It still resonates with me,” Boyd said to The Clemson Insider recently. “I remember center Nick Mangold looking at me in the huddle and being like, ‘Call the damn play rookie!’”

Boyd said the play at Clemson, where he earned ACC Player of the Year and All-American honors, was called “Trey Right Florida.” However, the same exact play in the Jets’ playbook was called “Shift to halfback to turn right open two Jets scat-slam all go special eagle shallow cross.”

“Marty called it one time in the helmet and I did not have a wrist band or none of that and I remember getting to the huddle, and I knew it because I said it 90 times before I walked to the huddle, but when I got to the huddle there was nothing. I lost the whole play.”

It was not a good moment for Boyd, who was released by the Jets a few weeks later. The former sixth-round draft choice said the terminology was the biggest issue he had when trying to adjust to the pro game from the system he ran at Clemson.

The Tigers’ all-time leading passer feels that will be the biggest adjust Deshaun Watson will have as well once he gets into the league. However, Boyd feels Watson will have a better opportunity to get it down than he did because of where he is going to be drafted.

Watson is considered by some draft experts to be the best quarterback in this year draft. His range of where he might be drafted is from No. 3 in the first round to No. 27 overall depending on which mock draft you happen to be looking at. Boyd says being a first-round selection will give whatever team picks Watson a little more patience than the Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers gave him.

“I was actually talking to my old quarterbacks coach at Pittsburgh, Randy Fichtner,” Boyd said. “You get rope in the NFL. If you are a first rounder that rope is extended. You might make 10 mistakes and that is okay, but if you are a seventh rounder or an undrafted quarterback, your rope is really short. So you might get one or two chances to make a mistake and then it is over.”

Boyd has no doubt Watson will be successful know matter where he goes, but he hopes the two-time Heisman Trophy Finalist goes to a team that already has a veteran quarterback in place sort of like the situation Aaron Rodgers had in Green Bay with Brett Favre and Tom Brady had at New England with Drew Bledsoe.

“Sometimes you wish you had more time to learn and to develop, but sometimes you don’t,” Boyd said. “The one good thing about all the off-season transactions is that there is potential for him to play right away at the NFL as a rookie. There is also that potential where he could land in a spot where he could sit for a year or two and for him, just being a football fan, I think that will be ideal. It would be great to really let him sit there and gather information and really let him look at it. Is Aaron Rodgers as successful if he does not sit? Is Tom Brady as successful if he is not behind Drew Bledsoe?

“Right now it is such a different time because we are at a different time in sports where (teams) expect guys to come in and play right away. Other positions are a little bit different than at quarterback. You might be able do that at receiver or running back because all you are doing is running a route. But when you have to sit there, and there are guys that can do it, don’t get me wrong. But it is just that much more pressure. You have to sit there and call a play. You have to call the protection. You have to adjust the hot route or slid the line, all of that becomes a factor. Then you have to read the defense and look at the play clock and see where you are at, there is just so much. I promise you, if Deshaun gets a year or two to really sit back he is going to cause havoc in the NFL.”

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