Watson, Lawrence led Clemson to titles

Two members of the AJC Super 11 all-decade team of the 2010s won national championships as quarterbacks at Clemson.

And one of those players would become the top pick in the NFL draft.

Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence headline the 2010s all-decade team of the AJC Super 11 project, a series looking back at Georgia’s top high school football players of the past. The AJC Super 11 team, the newspaper’s annual preseason list of its top high school football players in the state, debuted in the summer of 1985, and the 2022 team will be unveiled Aug. 14.

The players on the all-decade team of the 2010s were among all Super 11 selections from 2010-19 and — more important for this project — their high school, college and professional accomplishments were all a part of the selection process.

A member of the 2013 Super 11 team, Watson finished his career at Gainesville High with a state-record 13,077 passing yards. Watson passed for 4,593 yards and 41 touchdowns at Clemson in 2016 and led the Tigers past Alabama 35-31 in the College Football Playoff Championship game.

Watson was selected No. 12 overall in the 2017 NFL draft. Off-the-field issues kept him sidelined for the 2021 season, but this year he signed the largest contract of guaranteed money in NFL history: $230 million.

Lawrence, the top pick in the 2021 NFL draft, started 17 games as a rookie — his first pro season after highly decorated high school and college careers.

A 2017 Super 11 selection, Lawrence finished his career at Cartersville High with 13,902 passing yards — eclipsing Watson’s state record along the way — and led Clemson to another national title as a freshman in 2018.