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Jun 30, 2013, 12:55 PM

Bart Wright: Stepping Up: Clemson's Sammy Watkins is talking loud and proud after a modest 2011
Jun. 30, 2013

Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins (2) smiles after catching a 30 yard TD past Duke cornerback Lee Butler (20) last season at Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C. / BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff

A year ago at this time, Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins was so quiet you might not have heard him if the two of you were alone in the same room.

A year later, the immensely gifted junior receiver is talking loud enough to be heard from coast-to-coast.

“Last year is in the past,” Watkins said, “I’m not worried about last year, I’m more grown up now, I’m past all that stuff; I’m focused on what Clemson can do this year, but not just this year, I mean these next four, five, six years.

“We put ourselves at that top level now,” he said, “we’re championship material, we’re a team that can be 11-1, 12-0, whatever it takes, that’s who we are.”

A spectacular 2011 season resulted in national attention but a drug possession charge in the spring of 2012 prompted Coach Dabo Swinney to put Watkins under wraps, out of public view for three months, as Swinney contemplated a just punishment.

Watkins’ sophomore year was muted by a two-game start-of-the-season Swinney-imposed suspension, followed by some minor injuries and a respiratory condition that allowed him to start in only seven games. He still had 57 receptions for 708 yards and a 12.4 average per-catch, a very good season by most standards.

Now, Watkins is back for what could be his final season and if he was muted last year, he’s talking loud, and proud, these days.

“I don’t think there’s a better receiver than me, not in the ACC, not in the nation,” he said. “My goal is to break all of (DeAndre Hopkins’), records and help get this team where we want to go.

“I have heard the critics doubt me,” Watkins said, “I’ve heard them say I can’t play a whole season or the defenses figured me out or whatever, but that’s not the case. I will catch 80 or more balls, I’ll get at least 13-16 touchdowns and 1400 yards, that’s what’s coming.”

Those numbers would roughly duplicate the 2012 season for Hopkins, who gave up his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft – he was selected in the first round by the Houston Texans – after registering 82 receptions for 1405 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Clemson, 11-2, ranked ninth nationally last season in total offense (512.69 yards per game), sixth in scoring (41 ppg), and first nationally in both fourth down conversion percentage (14-for-18, 77.8 percent), and red zone efficiency (56-for-59, 95 percent), but there are gaps to fill this year. Hopkins, along with departed starters tight end Brandon Ford and running back Andre Ellington, helped account for much of that production.

“I am completely ready for this,” Watkins said. “Last year I got in trouble and I sort of kept to myself, I wasn’t mature as far as nutrition and how to take care of my body, but I know that now and I’ve never been in better shape.

“I didn’t really know how to hydrate, how to get good nutrition for myself, but I’ve learned that,” Watkins said. “I will play at about 203 (pounds), about eight or so less than last year and it feels perfect at this weight; I feel explosive and I’m hungry to get back on the field and help my teammates.”

Hopkins earned sweeping recognition in 2011 as national freshman of the year by Sporting News and College Football News and first-team freshman All-American by Pro Football Weekly, becoming the first player in Clemson history to receive the latter certification.

He would just as soon forget his sophomore season, and not only because of the suspension and illness.

“It wasn’t just that,” Watkins said. “People were coming after me every game, there were a lot of little injury-type things that the media didn’t know about, almost every week but that’s all in the past.

“Behind the scenes we like our schedule,” he said. “People talk about Georgia, Florida State and South Carolina, but I’m not worried about them, I’m concentrated on what we do.

“If we come out and beat Georgia, not just beat ‘em but beat the mess out of ‘em like we should, I don’t see no problems in getting started in the right direction. I don’t have disrespect for them or for nobody else, I just believe we can be just the kind of team we want to be, the talent is here, we know how to win.”

Watkins said there were questions about the defense last year, “but those guys got better and better every week, every game and they showed the world who they are against LSU.”

Professional scouts have had few concerns about Watkins’ skill level, but some have said they would like to see him face press coverage, being bumped at the line of scrimmage, or at least more of that than he has faced so far.

“I would love for that to happen,” Watkins said. “Teams don’t press me, most of them get in coverage 10, 12 yards off the line of scrimmage and I’m like, ‘Come on now, if you gonna’ cover me, be brave a little bit, come up on me, be physical at the line of scrimmage.’”

The only team that has consistently manned up against Watkins and pressed him at the line was Florida State, which held him to 6 receptions for 24 yards in a Seminoles’ victory last year, but Watkins had 7 catches for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns against them as a freshman.

“Let’s see if they do it again,” Watkins said of the Seminoles, who come to Death Valley on Oct. 19. “I pray that they do, I want to be pressed at the line on every play, I want them to try to know what I’m going to do before the play, because they will never know, they can’t know. I know one play against (Florida State), they had three guys on me, three covering me on one pass play and I made the catch; I don’t believe anybody can cover me one-on-one and I just hope everybody tries it.”

It won’t be much longer before he finds out. Of Clemson’s three toughest opponents on the schedule this year – Georgia, Florida State and South Carolina – only the rival game against the Gamecocks is on the road and they are all right around the corner.

“I’m ready to play right now,” Watkins said. “I can’t wait to show people what we can do.”

That much seems abundantly clear.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20130630/TIGERSNOW/306300026/Bart-Wright-Stepping-Up-Clemson-s-Sammy-Watkins-talking-loud-proud-after-modest-2011