Two years ago, Deshaun Watson was playing high school football in Gainesville. On Thursday night, the Clemson sophomore was named college football’s best quarterback of the 2015 season.
Watson received the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award at the College Football Awards show, an annual made-for-ESPN event that presents many of the sport’s major individual honors. The show was held at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta, relocating from its longtime home at Disney World.
O’Brien Award winners have gone on to win the Heisman Trophy each of the past five seasons, and Watson is one of three finalists for this year’s Heisman, which will be presented Saturday night in New York. However, he faces tough competition from running backs Derrick Henry of Alabama and Christian McCaffrey of Stanford.
“It’s a stat that has been coming true, but we’ll just have to see,” Watson said of his Heisman chances after winning the O’Brien. “I’ve got two great guys up there with me. … Win or lose, I’m going to have fun and embrace the moment.”
For now, Watson said he was proud to be the first Clemson player to win the O’Brien Award.
The other finalists for the top quarterback honor were TCU’s Trevone Boykin and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.
Watson, Henry and McCaffrey were the finalists Thursday for the Maxwell Award as player of the year. Henry won that trophy. The Maxwell winner has claimed the Heisman in two of the past five years.
Henry also received the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back, prevailing over fellow finalists McCaffrey and LSU’s Leonard Fournette.
“I’m thankful,” Henry said. “This list (of Walker Award winners) is legendary. I’m just thankful to be a part of it.”
Also Thursday, Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich won the Chuck Bednarik Award as defensive player of the year, Baylor’s Corey Coleman won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver, Stanford offensive guard Joshua Garnett won the Outland Trophy as best interior lineman, Iowa’s Desmond King won the Jim Thorpe Award as best defensive back, Utah’s Tom Hackett won a second consecutive Ray Guy Award as best punter, and UCLA’s Ka’imi Fairbairn won the Lou Groza Award as best placekicker.
The awards show brought to Atlanta the head coaches of the four teams in the College Football Playoff — Alabama’s Nick Saban, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops. They shared the stage at a pre-show news conference.
Swinney has the only undefeated team in the playoff field — the other three teams have one loss apiece — and he said there is no doubt his program, which hasn’t won a national championship since 1981, belongs on the big stage.
“We’re kind of that redneck that moved into the nice neighborhood, and everybody’s going, ‘Where’d you come from?’ Swinney said.
“But these guys belong right where they are, and they’ve earned it,” he said of his top-ranked team.