Open Letter to Tajh Boyd's Family

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 22 20:03:09 GMT-04:00 2013

Dear Tim, Carla and T.J. Boyd,

Thank you for giving us Tajh for the past five years, and letting us share your son and brother.

I remember my first post-practice conversation with Tajh – still wearing the bulky knee brace as he recovered from his torn ACL – and how the smiles and the exuberance came easy for a young man with a bright future ahead of him. After dealing with so many prima donna players, I had to ask myself, is this guy for real? Turns out he was.

There were growing pains, to be sure, and he sat out his first year as he recovered from that surgery. He sat and he watched, and he learned. And during his freshman season, there were moments that left me wondering exactly what Clemson had in Tajh – was he truly going to be the face of the program or was he never going to make it?

Early that season, late in a blowout win over North Texas, he got his opportunity for snaps, threw an interception and attempted to tackle the defender. That defender bowled him over, knocking his helmet off. But the tackle was made, and he stood and grabbed his helmet, his anger evident, and it was then I knew that there was a competitive fire burning in this young man from Virginia.

Later that season, the Tigers finished a desultory campaign with a bowl loss in front of empty seats in Charlotte, but lost amid all of the clutter and minutiae of a 6-7 season was the fact that Boyd almost brought the Tigers back to victory.

Later, in the hallway outside of the locker, Tajh stood with tears in his eyes, and boldly proclaimed that 6-7 would never happen again. Not under his watch. And he knew that at that moment, the quarterback job was his. Would he skip through on his talent? Or would he dedicate himself to being the best quarterback he could be?

Spring practice a few months later was a hit-or-miss affair, and your son once again made a promise, a promise that he would work hard in the off-season and be the quarterback and leader he knew he could be. He stayed in Clemson all summer, took only one day off, and led Clemson to an ACC Championship the next season.

There were more growing pains along the way, including when someone egged Tajh’s apartment following the loss at Georgia Tech in 2011. I am sure you wondered what your son had gotten himself into, and maybe even feared for his safety, but he answered questions about the incident with his usual aplomb and laughed them off.

Following the shocking loss to West Virginia in the Orange Bowl, he stood up and answered all of the tough questions, stood up for his offensive teammates and even those on defense, already showing signs of the leader he was to become.

The past two seasons have been a blur – there have been blowout wins and blowout losses. There has been the lack of success against Florida St. and South Carolina, and your son kept on smiling and being the leader and the face of a program that it’s not always easy to be the face of.

At the ACC Kickoff in Greensboro back in July, he was forced to answer questions after another player in this state said that Boyd was “scared” of him. Instead of dragging himself down to that level and beginning a war of words in which there are no winners, he answered with his usual grace and dignity.

At some point Saturday, your son will stand up at the top of The Hill, and receive the adoration of a Clemson fan base that knows what he has meant to this program, a fan base that sees the 50-plus school records and the ACC Championship and the wins, and maybe you will listen and hear the cheers with pride.

But those cheers are also for you, a family that left Virginia and transplanted to this part of the world to be near to him. Those cheers are also for you because you raised the kind of son that cleans up a movie theater after his teammates, that plays catch with other students on the intramural fields, and that has a smile and wave for each media member he encounters.

As the seconds tick of the clock in Saturday’s game and Tajh takes his final bows, we just want to say thank you. Even though there will be two games left in the season, a lot of things will get lost in the clutter of a rivalry game and a bowl game.

So, thank you Tim and Carla, for giving us a part of Tajh BoydTajh Boyd
RS Sr. Quarterback
#10 6-1, 225
Hampton, VA
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