Clemson coaches will let Watson be Watson

Injury prone.

Until he completes a season at Clemson without a physical setback, quarterback Deshaun Watson might be burdened by a reputation at once indicting, insolent and — in all likelihood — inaccurate.

After a high school career without a significant injury, Watson sustained three in eight months as a freshman at Clemson, two that limited him to appearances in eight games — three full highlight reels and clips of five others.

His season ended with a win over South Carolina, a testament to his skill, on a torn knee ligament repaired in surgery 12 days later.

As expected, the first questions earlier this month when practice began were about Watson’s knee and how Clemson intended to protect him against similar recurrences to the collarbone, hand and knee injuries.

His visibility and importance to Clemson’s potential success mark Watson as an obvious target, possibly more than any quarterback since Steve Fuller, whose retired number 4 was assigned to him after 37 years in mothballs.

“He’s got that ‘it’ factor,” said Tony Elliott, in his first season as Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator. “You see him doing things you would expect a junior or senior to do, and he’s only started a couple of games.”

With essentially five full games of experience, he was voted preseason player of the year by ACC media and nominated to the watch lists for the Manning, Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards. ESPN.com and SI.com listed him sixth for the Heisman Trophy.

His coaches and teammates said Watson’s maturity and bearing on the field are sophisticated and refined, far advanced for a kid that turns 20 on Sept. 14.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s similar to Peyton Manning on game day,” said left guard Eric Mac Lain, marveling at Watson’s knack for identifying the right protection at the line much like Manning does for the Denver Broncos. “The guy has taken it upon himself to own the protections on the offensive line, to where if he sees something, he can call a different one to put us in a better situation.

“You don’t see that from sophomore, 19-year-old kids able to read the defense that way.”

Watson opens the season Sept. 5 behind a line in transition and with a run game in need of a jumpstart. Center Ryan Norton has started 24 games, but the other four projected starters, including the left tackle who enrolled in January, total five.

And last season Clemson was 91^st in rushing, averaging 146.46 yards per game (3.5 per carry), which frequently led to predictable situations on second and third down.

Cumulatively, they lend credence to the questions about preserving him. As the starter his freshman year in high school, Watson was encouraged to remain in the pocket and rely on his protection.

“We were afraid to run him because we were afraid he’d get broken in half,” said Gainesville coach Bruce Miller, remembering a pencil thin kid with immense talent.

The next season Miller took off the blinders, and Watson rushed for nearly 1,000 yards.

“It was off to the races,” Miller said.

For Clemson to succeed this season, the blinders must be off.

“What makes Deshaun special is (that) he plays on the edge,” Elliott said. “If you take that away from him and start to make him think he’s injury prone, then you’re going to take what makes him special away from him.”

Mixing the run and short passing game as they did in the bowl win over Oklahoma should minimize any hint of tendency, Elliott said, “but when you’ve got a guy like Deshaun, he’s going to create plays with his legs, too.”

Watson’s coaches and teammates marvel at the depth of knowledge and his instincts. Quite simply, said Elliott, “he’s smart.”

In all likelihood, Watson won’t have that much freedom at Clemson even though he “pretty much” knows the entire playbook, including “why we run a play.”

“It’s having every little detail, from my position to the line, knowing why we do things,” Watson said.

Day-to-day, Elliott defers to quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter in dealing with Watson. Game day, Elliott will call the plays from the box, Jeff Scott will run the offense on the field and coach Dabo Swinney won’t be far from the process.

Since he apparently knows how, Watson said he spent a good deal of time after surgery watching video and learning from a coach’s perspective, picking minds and listening.

“To play at the highest level and win championships, you have to be a coach on the field,” Watson said. “The quarterback has to be the leader and think like the head coach.”

Yet even though he understands – from a coach’s perspective – why it might not be prudent to hurdle the defense as he did to score a touchdown in the N.C. State game, it probably won’t stop him if the occasion presents itself again.

Maybe it’s simply because protecting Deshaun Watson means letting him be Deshaun Watson.

“We’ll have that momentary holding the breath,” Elliott said. “But you can’t take that away. That’s what makes him special.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2015 at 10:01 PM.