Deshaun Watson

Early years

Watson was born on September 14, 1995. Watson attended Gainesville High School in Gainesville, Georgia. Watson arrived at Gainesville in the Fall of 2010. Gainesville Head Coach Bruce Miller had planned to start a rising junior to quarterback his spread offense, but Watson won the starting spot. Deshaun Watson was the first freshman quarterback Coach Miller had ever started. During his career he set numerous state records, including total yards (17,134), total touchdowns (218), career passing yards (13,077), and career passing touchdowns (155). He also rushed for 4,057 yards and 63 touchdowns. Watson excelled in his junior year, winning a state championship and earning accolades such as Junior All-American, 2014 Player to Watch, and 2014 Top 100 Recruit. During his sophomore and senior years, he was able to lead the Gainesville High School Football Team to the state semi-finals.

Watson received offers from numerous colleges before committing to Clemson University to play college football. Some of the offers he considered most seriously came from schools such as the University of Alabama, Auburn University, Florida State University, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State University, Ohio State, University of Oregon, and University of Southern California. Watson verbally committed to Clemson on February 1, 2012. He was ranked the number one quarterback recruit for the 2014 class by ESPN 300.

Freshman year

Watson enrolled at Clemson in January 2014. He entered his true freshman season as the backup to starter Cole Stoudt, but still received extensive playing time. During his high school career, Watson wore number 4. At Clemson, that number had been retired after quarterback Steve Fuller graduated. However, Fuller allowed the number to come out of retirement so that Watson could wear it. Through three games, he had completed 29 of 41 passes for 479 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, outperforming Stoudt. Watson was named the Tigers starter on September 21. In Watson's first career start against the North Carolina Tar Heels, he set a Clemson record with six touchdown passes and threw for 435 yards in route to a 50–35 victory.

On October 11, 2014, Watson broke a bone in his right hand in a game against the Louisville Cardinals. He left in the first quarter and was out for the game and also for the games against Boston College, Syracuse, and Wake Forest. He returned for the game against Georgia Tech only to suffer an LCL strain, missing most of the game. During the following week in practice it was reported that Watson had tweaked his knee. He did not play against Georgia State the following week, but he came back the following week to play against state rival South Carolina. After defeating the Gamecocks, it was revealed to the public that Watson had played the game with a torn ACL.

Watson underwent surgery to repair his ACL the Friday before Clemson's bowl game against Oklahoma.

Sophomore year

In 2015, Watson led Clemson to an undefeated 12-0 regular season and a #1 ranking in the polls. After the regular season, the Tigers qualified for the ACC Championship Game, facing off against #10 North Carolina. Watson threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns in the game to lead the Tigers to a 45-37 win over the Tar Heels, winning the ACC Championship for the first time since 2011. Watson was also named the ACC Championship Game MVP for his performance. The Tigers were selected to participate in the 2016 College Football Playoff and were selected as the #1 seed. The Tigers faced off against the #4 seed Oklahoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl, one of the two CFP Semifinal games. Watson threw for 189 yards and a touchdown and ran for 145 yards and a touchdown as he led Clemson to a 37-17 victory over the Sooners. Watson was named the 2015 Orange Bowl Offensive MVP for his performance. With the win, the Tigers advanced to the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship game against #2 Alabama Crimson Tide, where Clemson lost by a score of 45-40. Watson threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns in the game and ran for another 73 yards on the ground in the losing effort. Watson surpassed the 4,000 yard passing mark for the season in this game. Watson set the record for most total yards in national championship game history, with 478 yards (405 passing / 73 rushing) against the nation's best defense. In addition to throwing for over 4,000 yards, Watson also rushed for over 1,000 yards to complete his true sophomore season. Watson was the first, and currently the only, player ever to accomplish this feat in the history of college football.

For his accomplishments during the 2015 season, Watson was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, the first time a Clemson player has been invited to the Heisman Trophy Presentation. Watson finished third in the balloting after winner Derrick Henry, running back from Alabama and Christian McCaffrey, running back from Stanford. Watson's third-place finish in Heisman voting is the best finish in Clemson football history. Watson won the Davey O'Brien Award, which is awarded annually to the best college quarterback. Furthermore, Watson was also named the 2015 ACC Player of the Year and the ACC Offensive Player of the Year.

Junior year

Watson finished with 378 passing yards and two touchdowns against Florida State on October 29, 2016, rallying to a 37-34 win. Against Syracuse on November 5, 2016, Watson had 169 passing yards with two touchdowns, but left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. In 2016, Watson was selected as the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and was the first repeat winner of the Manning Award. For the second year in row, Watson was named one of five Heisman Trophy candidates, along with Michigan's Jabrill Peppers, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook, and Louisville's Lamar Jackson. For the second year in row, Watson came up short of winning the Heisman, as Louisville's Lamar Jackson was awarded the Heisman Trophy for his efforts and performances throughout the 2016 season, finishing with nearly twice as many first place votes as Watson. After defeating Ohio State 31–0 in the CFP semifinal (Fiesta Bowl) and receiving the offensive MVP award for his efforts, Clemson defeated No. 1 Alabama 35–31 in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship. Watson completed 36 of 56 passes and passed for 420 yards and three touchdowns against the nation's number 1 ranked defense, including the last-second game-winner to wide receiver, Hunter Renfrow. He also rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown. This gave the Clemson Tigers program its second national championship in school history, ending a three-decade national championship drought. Watson was awarded the offensive MVP award for his performance during the national championship game.

On November 8, 2016, Watson, along with three other Clemson players, namely Wayne Gallman, Artavis Scott, and Mike Williams, declared for the NFL Draft. In December 2016, Watson graduated with a degree in Communications after three years at Clemson.

Statistics

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Professional career

Coming out of Clemson, Watson was projected to be a first round pick by the majority of scouts and analysts. He was ranked as the top quarterback available in the draft by Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Focus, and ESPN. He was ranked the second best quarterback by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Houston Texans drafted Watson in the first round with the 12th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. The Houston Texans acquired the pick from the Cleveland Browns, trading their 25th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and their first round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He was the third quarterback taken in the draft, behind Mitchell Trubisky, who went second overall to the Chicago Bears, and Patrick Mahomes II, who went tenth overall to the Kansas City Chiefs. On May 12, 2017, the Texans signed Watson to a four-year, $13.84 million contract featuring a $8.21 million signing bonus.

Watson made his first regular season appearance on September 10, 2017, against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Watson entered the game after Tom Savage was benched at halftime. Watson played for the remainder of the game. In the third quarter, he threw his first career touchdown pass, which was a four-yard pass to wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. He finished with 102 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception as the Texans lost by a score of 29–7. Watson made his first career start on September 14, 2017, which was his 22nd birthday, during Thursday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals. He finished with 125 passing yards, 67 rushing yards and a 49-yard rushing touchdown as the Texans won 13–9. During Week 3 against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, Watson finished with 301 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions as the Texans lost 36–33.

Personal life

In 2006, when Watson was 11 years old, Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn donated a home to his family. It was donated through Dunn's charity Homes for the Holidays (HMTH), who partnered with Habitat for Humanity.