Watson authored fitting end to journey at Clemson
Last-second touchdown pass one for the books
Chad Morris did not want to leave Deshaun Watson. Morris had been offered the head coaching job at Southern Methodist after the 2014 season, a chance to run his own team near his Texas hometown. He had recruited Watson to Clemson as the Tigers’ offensive co- ordinator, and Watson had become to feel like family.
“Single- handedly, he was one of the main reasons I almost didn’t leave,” Morris said last year. “Before I took the job, I called him. We talked long and hard about it. ... This is a freshman, and I’m calling him to give me his endorsement.”
Watson played the final game of his junior season Monday night and he delivered a magical performance, a second half for the ages in Clemson’s 35-31 triumph over Alabama. Given his talent and achievements, it doubled as the final game of Watson’s college career, the NFL calling. He delivered an ultimate cap to an ultimate career, ending Alabama’s 26- game winning streak with a lastsecond touchdown pass.
Put aside Watson’s brilliance. Never mind the 420 passing yards and three touchdowns, the two goahead touchdown drives in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Imagine the courage required to invite bodily harm 77 times against Alabama’s violent and alarming defence. Consider the strength, of every kind, needed to keep walking across the coals, and not once, until the final kneel-down, possessing the ball with the lead. Watson threw 56 times and ran another 21 with the full weight of his team on his shoulders.
On Alabama’s first possession, linebacker Reuben Foster blasted him in the helmet as another Alabama had his legs wrapped up. He grew tentative when holes opened and lost his dazzling ability to surge through the line. The Tigers fell behind 14- 0 and mustered nothing on offence. Clemson was intimidated, reeling, staring at a blowout.
And then toughness, in every form. Watson recaptured himself. He hit Deon Cain on a crucial screen pass to create momentum. He danced into the corner of the end zone, tiptoeing by the pylon. Clemson trailed by only a touchdown, 14-7, at the half.
Even for Watson, a comeback seemed an impossible task. Against Power Five opponents, Alabama had allowed 13 second- half points combined in its last seven games. Nick Saban had been 97- 0 when entering the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead.
But Watson’s varied talents and Clemson’s pace had flipped Alabama’s advantage, and the Tigers had started to wear down the Tide defence, rather than the Tide pulverizing the Clemson offence. Watson’s accuracy actually improved and he settled into a rhythm. Wide receiver Mike Williams became a monster. His touchdown on a fade early in the fourth sliced the lead to 24-21.
The Tigers trailed by the same score when Watson took over with 6: 33 remaining. He drove the Tigers 88 yards in six plays, the signature play a 15- yard glide down to the 1- yard line that recalled Texas’s Vince Young. A play later, Wayne Gallman plowed into the end zone.
Watson’s work was still not done. Alabama freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts scampered for a go- ahead touchdown. Watson got the ball back, down three points, at his own 32 with 2: 07 left on the clock. “Let’s be legendary,” Watson told the huddle. “Let’s be great.” “It was calm,” Watson said. Know his background and the calm within such a cauldron starts to make sense. Watson grew up in government housing until he brought a Habitat for Humanity brochure home from church to his mother, who looked into the program and signed up. “What could be worse?” she thought. She helped build her own home and raised Watson in it until he reached his sophomore year of high school. She received a diagnosis of tongue cancer and Watson’s aunt looked after him while she underwent treatments.
“I didn’t even know it at first,” Bruce Miller, Watson’s coach at Gainesville High in Georgia, would recall. “It upset him, but it didn’t deflate him.”
And so, sure, one more drive against Alabama’s ferocious defence? Watson completed his first five passes on the drive. A pass interference call drawn by Williams put the ball on the Alabama 2- yard line with six seconds left. Watson rolled right. Hunter Renfrow ran an out pattern, helped by a rub from Artavis Scott. Watson tossed it to Renfrow, wide open in the end zone. Only one second remained and Watson had climbed the mountain.
He completed Clemson’s ascent from regional disappointment to national superpower. He inspired. He encouraged his teammates to join him building houses for others through Habitat for Humanity.
“He was very grateful for the many people in his life who helped him and helped his mom,” Morris said. “He’s so grateful, such a grateful person. He thinks of everybody but himself.”
Monday night, as he cradled the national championship trophy, Watson had nothing left to give college football. He will leave the sport, but he will not be forgotten.