Standout 2014 QB has Clemson atop list

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Jan 16 23:23:59 GMT-04:00 2012

Offensive coordinator Chad Morris will be in Gainesville, Ga., this Friday to visit with 2014 quarterback prospect DeShaun Watson DeShaun Watson

Quarterback

6-2, 170

Gainesville, GA

View Full Profile , and Morris will even stick around to watch the 6-3, 190-pound sophomore play basketball that night.

Watson told TigerNet Monday evening that his first love is football and that is the sport he expects to play in college, but basketball also figures into his recruitment at Clemson simply because head coach Dabo SwinneyDabo Swinney

Head Coach

View Full Profile has already laid some smack talk down on the dual-threat prospect.

“Coach Swinney is a fantastic coach, and every time I come up there he meets me first and we talk about everything,” Watson said. “We talk about my family, how I am doing in school and about sports. He thinks he can beat me in basketball, so sometime over the summer we are going to play and settle it. But I just like his style for some reason.”

Watson posted outstanding numbers in his sophomore campaign for Gainesville, connecting on 229-of-337 passes for 3,221 yards with 41 touchdowns, the most in the state of Georgia, and six interceptions. He also carried the ball 156 times for 1,073 yards and 16 touchdowns, leading his team to a 12-2 record in his second year as a starter.

He said the numbers were a result of feeling more comfortable under center as a sophomore than he did as a freshman.

“It was kind of crazy, because my first game [as a freshman] was against the defending state champs, the Buford Wolves,” he said. “My teammates were telling me to stay calm and just go out and play and not worry about anything. As the season went along, I got used to the game speed and got a little better. It was a big step for me and helped me mature a lot.

“As a result, I was very comfortable coming into this season. My coach, he just told me to go in there and lead the team, study real hard, have fun and keep God first. He also told me to be a leader to my teammates and keep them up, and be ready to play every week. That is what we did.”

Watson has offers from Central Florida and Clemson, but he says his coach told him Vanderbilt and North Carolina St. were on the verge of making verbal offers with many more in the future. However, Clemson is the leader at this point.

“I like Clemson a lot,” he said. “I actually want to make a decision before the end of this summer or at the end of football season this year. Clemson runs the same style of offense my high school runs, and I think it would be a great fit. And I like Coach Morris - I think he is a really good coach. We talk two times a week, and he is coming this Friday to see me. We have a close bond, and we talk about our families and what we like to do in our spare time. I like him a lot. “

Watson camped at Clemson this past summer, and plans to do so again this year.

“They taught me how to drop on my passes and how to work on my steps,” he said. “I learned a lot, like how to throw to the back shoulder, when to throw it in a hole and reading the defense. I am a passer first, but I like to spread it around and if I don’t have anything I can run, set up the draw play and zone read. That is what I like to do.”

Watson said he watched the Tigers’ loss in the Orange Bowl, and he was quick to post following the game that he was still a Clemson Tiger.

“I think they played a pretty decent game to start off with,” he said. “West Virginia just had a better offense on that particular night and they were fired up. Clemson had a good year, and they are still going to be a great team. I have a lot of interest in them.”