LEGENDARY STATUS
After dominating at Clemson, QB ready to make NFL mark
There were two minutes left and 68 yards between Deshaun Watson and a national championship comeback victory against mighty Alabama, and not a single soul on the Clemson sideline, or in t he Clemson huddle, was sweating it.
“When we l ooked up at the clock and saw there was t wo minutes left, we knew t here was a good chance we could go win this thing, and everybody in the huddle felt the same way,” Clemson assistant coach/quarterbacks and recruiting coordinator Brandon Streeter said by phone.
“Before the season, Coach [Dabo] Swinney asked everybody in the program to pick a word for themselves to help encourage them and help them get through the season. And Deshaun’s word was ‘legendary.’ “And s o, he kind of kept that word throughout the season, and then, the last series in the huddle before we took the field, he looked at all the guys in the huddle and said, ‘Hey, fellas, let’s go be legendary.’”
And the legend of Deshaun Watson was sealed when he hit Hunter Renfro with the 2-yard touchdown pass with one second left for an epic 35-31 victory.
Now Watson stands days away from carrying his legend into the NFL, following a legendary comeback from a fourth-andl ong childhood: l i ving with his siblings without a father figure in government housing, playing pickup football games with gang members and drug dealers outside his Gainesville, Ga., apartment, before his mother, Deann, found a way to f ind them a home and the hope that accompanies it through Habitat for Humanity. There was more to overcome as well.
“I believe he was about 14 or 15, in his freshman year, his mom developed tongue cancer, and she had to go over to a big hospital in Atlanta and stay there for about six or seven months ... and he had to take care of himself with his brothers, and he had an aunt and uncle that lived nearby too that helped out,” Streeter said. “But he really grew and learned a lot of stuff just going through that tough time. ... He grew in his faith, he learned to mature a lot faster because of that and to grow up faster.”
What would Streeter tell an NFL general manager about why Watson can be the face of his franchise?
“The character that he has. The leadership quality that he will provide in the locker room,” Streeter said. “And then on top of that, I would say, this kid has only lost three games in his career as a starter. He knows how to win, and above all, he wins the big game.”
Streeter was coaching at Richmond and recruiting in the Clemson area when he first met Watson at one of his old campus hangouts.
“I went out to eat at a place called Mac’s Drive-in, which is a hole in the wall, just a little burger joint that’s right near campus,” Streeter said. “You could just tell he was mature beyond his years. He had that glow in his eye that you could tell he had something to him. Then I got to watch him on TV that fall when he became the starter and I remember texting Coach Swinney ‘ cause we already had a relationship there and just told him, ‘I think you got something special in No. 4.’ ”
Something legendary.
“Before the season, Coach [Dabo] Swinney asked everybody in the program to pick a word for them themselves to help encourage the season. and help them get through And Deshaun’s word was ‘legendary.’ — Clemson assistant Brandon Streeter