By Hale McGranahan.

The summer recruiting season is in full-swing. Unfortunately, real, live college football is still several months away.

With that in mind, TheClemsonInsider is taking a look back at the recruitment of each returning player on the Clemson roster.

QB Deshaun Watson, Gainesville (GA) – Freshman

Clemson was first to offer for Watson, who got the news from Chad Morris and Jeff Scott after a strong showing at the 2011 Dabo Swinney Football Camp.

That was the second trip to Clemson for Watson. No. 1 was for the 2010 season opener against North Texas. Many more would follow, including trips to three games in 2011.

By winter, UCF, N.C. State and Vanderbilt jumped in with offers. But Clemson was already being touted as his leader.

In January of 2012, he was on campus for Junior Day. A few days later, on signing day, Clemson landed his commitment.

Things started to heat up by summer as offers started to roll in from Auburn, Florida State, and Ohio State, among many others.

That fall, as a junior, Watson led Gainesville to the AAAAA state championship. Georgia took notice and finally stepped forward with an offer in January of 2013.

As summer rolled around again, rumors swirled that Watson was seriously considering visits to places like Auburn and Ohio State.

While the details of some of Watson’s trips were difficult to confirm, Watson put it all to bed by the end of summer. In the fall, he signed financial aid agreement papers with Clemson.

Two months later, in January of 2014, Watson enrolled at Clemson. And all of Morris’ recruiting trips to Gainesville paid off.

A four-year starter at Gainesville, Watson set Georgia state records with 13,077 passing yards and 155 touchdowns. He also rushed for 4,057 yards and 59 scores.