Williams, Watson make Clemson history
By: will-vandervort April 27, 2017

It was a record night for the Clemson football program in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft on Thursday.

With Mike Williams’ No. 7 selection to the L.A. Chargers and Deshaun Watson’s No. 12 selection by the Houston Texans, they became the earliest pair of former Clemson players selected in an NFL Draft.

The previous combo to go that early was when defensive end Jeff Bryant went No. 6 to Seattle and Perry Tuttle No. 19 to Buffalo in the 1982 draft. Coincidently, their selections also followed a Clemson national championship season.

Since common era draft started in 1967, Williams and Watson are also the first wide receiver-quarterback combo from same school taken within first 12 selections.

Williams, the second receiver taken in the draft, came at no real surprise at No. 7. The Chargers flew to Clemson earlier this week and held a private workout with the Tigers’ All-ACC receiver.

Williams is coming off of one of the best seasons a Clemson wide receiver has ever had. He led the Tigers with 98 receptions for 1,361 yards, while scoring 11 touchdowns – just the fourth Clemson wideout in history to catch at least 10 touchdowns in a season.

“I had a ten minute talk today with Dabo Swinney about this guy,” said Stanford head coach David Shaw, who was a co-host on the NFL Network. “He loves him because he is a worker. He is a small town kid that just wants to come and go to work.

“I would grab this guy and just work on his routes because he is young in this game. He is going to get better. He has some initial quickness now. This guy is going to be a quarterback’s best friend.”

With Williams and Watson both being selected in the first round on Thursday night at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pa., it marked the second time in three years, but just the fourth time in history, Clemson had a pair of first-round selections.

Besides this year’s draft and the 1982 draft class, Clemson had Jerry Butler (No. 5) and Steve Fuller (23) taken in the first round of the 1979 draft class, while Vic Beasley (8) and Stephone Anthony (31) were chosen in the 2015 draft.

Houston traded up 13 spots with Cleveland to move up and get Watson at No. 12. The Texans gave up another pick to get the Clemson quarterback who led the Tigers to a 32-3 record as a starter and to the 2016 National Championship.

“I’m going to look at the guy’s accuracy. He can expose coverage, good corners, good players,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said prior to Watson’s No. 12 selection in the draft. “I know he had good receivers and they made good plays, but I think this guy is a fantastic athlete, a really good person, a great leader and did a great job of executing their offense.

“It’s really sort of mind-boggling to me that people are having concerns about his future.”

After Watson threw for 420 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another in leading the Tigers to a 35-31 victory over Alabama, Houston did not have any problems moving up to take the two-time Heisman Trophy Finalist.

“I root for this kid,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. “I like him as a person. I like how he conducts himself. I like how he leads his team. He is best when the lights are the brightest. That is the biggest complement you can give a quarterback. Watch both the ‘Bama tapes and tell me this kid cannot freakin’ play ball.”

Watson is just excited to be in Houston.

“It’s amazing,” Watson said of fulfilling a lifelong dream by becoming an NFL player. “I was telling myself not to cry, but I couldn’t hold it back. Now I’m finally introduced into the National Football League. It’s a blessing. This is what I worked for.”

Clemson has had a first-round draft choice in each of the last four years. Williams and Watson join DeAndre Hopkins, who was the No. 27 selection of the 2013 draft by the Houston Texans, Sammy Watkins, the No. 4 pick by Buffalo in 2014, Vic Beasley by the Falcons and Stephone Anthony by the New Orleans Saints in 2015 and Shaq Lawson, the 19th selection of the 2016 draft by the Buffalo Bills.

—Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports