There is no doubt Chad Morris is excited about his first season as a head coach. The former Clemson offensive coordinator will make his head coaching debut when his SMU Mustangs host fourth-ranked Baylor on Sept. 4 in Dallas.

But as excited as Morris is to be a new head coach in college football, part of him still lies in Clemson where he understands the Tigers are on the cusp of something special in Dabo Swinney’s seventh season.

With the return of Deshaun Watson at quarterback, plus talented offensive weapons like wide receivers Artavis Scott and Mike Williams sprinkled all around him, the Tigers are expected to put up record breaking numbers in 2015.

It’s what made Morris’ decision to leave Clemson last December so difficult. It was especially tough for him to leave Watson, who he watched play every sport since he was a sophomore in high school.

“Once you meet him he just clings to your heart,” Morris told Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman back in January. “His story. Yes it was tough, almost to the point where you don’t take the job because of one kid type of deal.”

But this year Morris will have to hear stories on how Brandon Streeter, Clemson’s new quarterbacks coach, is coaching his prize recruit, while two of his former Clemson coaches, Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott, get to call his plays.

“To watch someone else coach him and reap the benefit of getting him there, that’s tough,” Morris said. “You always want what is best for Clemson, and Coach (Dabo) Swinney has done a great job with that program.”

The hype surrounding Watson is perhaps the highest it has ever been for a Clemson quarterback entering a season. Last month, the media at the ACC Football Kickoff voted him as their preseason favorite to win ACC Player of the Year honors. Some have called Watson the best quarterback in the country and others have him as one of the frontrunners to begin the Heisman Trophy race.

The hype surrounding Watson is understandable. In his second pass of his college career, he threw a touchdown pass over the top of a Georgia defender and dropped it between another. He played flawless in a near upset of top-ranked Florida State in Tallahassee two weeks later, and in his first career start against North Carolina he threw a school-record six touchdown passes.

When he played in 2014, the Clemson offense never missed a beat as it averaged more than 40 points and 540 yards a game.

“He is so smooth,” Morris said. “He is a kid that sees it before it happens…There’s always something to learn, but his game – his ability, he sees things before they happen.”

Watson says he is still in contact with his old position coach, and the two text each other frequently. He says it wasn’t too hard losing Morris to SMU because he knows it was not personal, it was just business.

“He and I have that type of relationship. This is what was best for him and best for his family,” the sophomore said. “He was going back home. I was really excited for him. It is a business. You have to do what you gotta do.”

What Watson is doing now, is running Elliott and Jeff Scott’s offense. He says he has not had to adjust to anything new because, “those guys were here last year and I knew them through the whole recruiting process so everything is the same as before.”

But it isn’t all the same. Before the season started last year he walked around Clemson pretty much incognito. Only the true diehard fans and recruiting junkies recognized who he was. But after the North Carolina game that all changed.

Now he cannot go anywhere without a Clemson fan asking for an autograph or wanting to take a picture with him.

“It’s a little worse, but I just try to be myself,” Watson said. “I don’t really do anything out of the norm. I just take what comes with the position that I am in.”

Like his former offensive coordinator, Watson understands Clemson is close to doing something really special, and with that comes the responsibility of being the leader on a team that is capable of doing such great things.

The Tigers are the favorites to win the ACC Championship, and a lot of the so-called experts believe they could be one of the four teams at the end of the season to make it to the College Football Playoffs.

“I feel real comfortable with myself and the team,” Watson said. “I’m just making sure everyone is doing their job and I’m being the leader they need me to be.”

It’s easy to see why part of Morris’ heart still lies in Clemson.