Boyd wants to hear the cannons signaling lots of touchdowns Saturday

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Aug 31 12:42:37 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON – Tajh Boyd Tajh Boyd
RS So. Quarterback
#10 6-1, 230
Hampton, VA
View Full Profile hasn’t started a football game since 2008, and he says he knows he will have a ton of emotions and thoughts as the bus pulls around Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon and lets the players off at the top The Hill.

However, he has his favorite song to get him ready.

“Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to feel until I come down that hill,” Boyd said Tuesday afternoon. “It's a little bit different coming down the hill, knowing that you may or may not play, but knowing you're going to start. It's going to have a totally different feel to it. One of the songs I used to listen to in high school was Phil Collins’ 'In the Air Tonight'. It kind of calms me down a little bit. I'm definitely going to listen to that before the game. I'm excited to see how it goes.”

Boyd said that he doesn’t think nerves will play a major role in his first collegiate start.

“I think I used to get nervous, back around my sophomore year in high school,” he said. “But after I started my first couple of games, I never really got nervous. I am not going to pull a Willie Beamen [the quarterback from the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’] or anything like that. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm really excited, and the energy is really great around here, which is really important for the game this weekend.”

The Virginia native admits that he can’t wait to see how new offensive coordinator Chad Morris’ offense looks on the field.

“Honestly, it feels like he's [Morris] been here for a year or two already, even though it's only been a few months,” he said. “Things are definitely coming along really well. Everybody's got a grasp of the offense and how it's supposed to be ran, how it's supposed to look. I guess we get tired of going against each other every day. We're definitely looking forward to playing against another opponent. We're all excited and really looking forward to it.

“And, Coach Morris keeps us excited. He came out to practice the other day and he was all jacked up, and he was asking us if we were all jacked up. He told us he had already had a red bull, some Starburst and some Skittles. He was ready to go. You have to love his excitement.”

Excitement notwithstanding, Boyd knows he has to be a leader on the field Saturday, and he feels like he is up to the task.

“I feel like I've grown up a lot. I don't have too much game experience from last year,” he said. “But, at the same time, I feel like I've had enough preparation from the spring and the fall to be ready for these games. Like I said, we'll see where the work pays off this weekend. I’m blessed to be in a position like this, where the guys respect what you do and know how much you work. As a whole offensive unit, I believe we're ready for this game. We challenge each other every day. We're really excited about it.”

He showed some of that maturity when he said that he understands he doesn’t have to win the game by himself – just manage and make plays when he has to.

“We've got a lot of players this year,” he said. The way the offense works, it's to the point where I have to manage the game, but it's not to the point where I don't have to make plays. I'm going to do what I can with this offense. At the same time, we've got players like Andre EllingtonAndre Ellington
RS Jr. Running Back
#23 5-10, 190
Moncks Corner, SC
View Full Profile who came back to make big plays. Take care of the ball, that's all I really have to do. No turnovers equals winning games. If we do that, and we've been doing really good with that in the past month or so, we should be fine.”

He does hope, however, to get off to a fast start.

“I think it'll be pretty important. We definitely want to come out and score on the first couple of drives,” he said. “If not, we've got to keep digging. This offense is similar to Auburn. They had success on their early drives. That's something we want to establish as well. I feel like if we do what we're supposed to do, we'll accomplish what we want to accomplish.”

And will Phil Collins’ music still be running through his head if the Tigers are successful at putting up points?

“No. I just want to hear those cannons going off a lot in the end zone on Saturday.”