CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The last couple of months have been as hectic and as busy for Deshaun Watson at any point as it is during the season. In fact, it is easy to believe the 2016 football season might be a nice getaway for the Heisman Trophy hopeful.
Since the summer began, Watson has gone to Los Angeles as a counselor for the Elite 11 Quarterbacks Camp. Over to Beaverton, Oregon where the Nike headquarters are at as he got to pick the brains of former NFL players like Trent Dilfer and Jordan Palmer, while also working with quarterback guru Georgia Whitfield.
“It was a great time to learn from the vets that have been where I want to go one day,” Watson said. “Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl, played 14 years in the NFL. I picked his brain. Then I learn from guys like George Whitfield, quarterback guru, and Jordan Palmer, who played 19 years in the NFL. His brother is Carson Palmer.
“There’s a lot of great knowledge up there. It was just a great experience to be able to teach the high school kids, show my experience, what I went through, what I’m going through now, and help get those high school kids ready and prepared for the next four or five years of their lives.”
It also helps to get Watson ready for what should be a wild ride as he and the Tigers attempt to defend their ACC Championship, while also trying to get back to the national championship game.
Clemson is one of the favorites to make the College Football Playoff, again, this year, while Watson is considered, by most, to be the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy after he lit up Alabama for a record 478 yards in the title game last January.
“Each and every year is a different year. We have to start over. Last year’s wins, touchdowns or stops are not going to do anything for us this year,” he said. “We know we have a target on us and we have to go ten times harder to get where we want to go this year than we did last year.
“We just got to take it one day at a time and make sure everybody is on the same time. Know and understand that nothing is going to be given to us. We have to go earn it.”
That starts off the field for Watson, where he is finishing up a summer in which he has taken 17 credit hours, this after he took 19 credit hours in the spring.
“That’s starting off with being a good citizen off the field, being a good student in the classroom, watching film, working out, taking care of your body, eating right, little things like that,” he said. “If you take care of the little things, the big things are going to take care of itself.”
Watson says the standard for him and his team is never going to change. He says Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney preaches to them every day that “The best is the standard” in everything they do.
“Coach Swinney has been preaching that for the past eight years. This is no surprise for us,” Watson said. “This is what we’ve been building for, especially for the guys that have been here from the start, guys like Tajh Boyd, Sammy Watkins, C.J. Spiller, all these guys have been building up for this moment right here. It’s a privilege to be able to take the torch and run with it.”