Clemson football has been shaped by African American QB’s

Clemson football has a history of record-setting quarterbacks.

Like every other program in college football, Clemson football was slow to allow African American players to take the field. This is something the program cannot change but has worked hard to move away from over the last 50 years.

While many other programs continue to struggle when it comes to recruiting and playing African American quarterbacks, Clemson football is not one of them. Matter of fact, there is no national championships or elite college football program in Clemson, South Carolina without the dedication, perseverance, and hard work from the African American quarterbacks that Clemson has featured over the last 40 years.

Clemson football is one of the rarities when it comes to national championships.

Two of Clemson football’s three national title wins were directed by African American quarterbacks – Homer Jordan and Deshaun Watson. While I did not do extensive research on the topic, the only other school that has at least two national titles directed by a starting African American quarterback was Florida State with Charlie Ward and Jameis Winston.

There are many major college football programs across the country that have struggled to have even a handful of starting Black quarterbacks, but there are have been many African American starting quarterbacks for Clemson over the last 40 years.

Players such as Patrick Sapp, DeChane Cameron, Richard Moncrief, Nealon Greene, Willie Simmons, and Kelly Bryant have all had an impact on the program over the years.

Since Marion Reeves laid the foundation for all future Black football student-athletes at Clemson in 1971, the Tigers have always played the best player regardless of skin color.

However, there are four quarterbacks whose mark on the program will never be forgotten. These four quarterbacks embody what it means to be a Tiger – hard work, sacrifice, love for their communities, and a commitment to being the best versions of themselves.

Clemson football would not be what it is today without these four men, who also happen to be African American quarterbacks.

Homer Jordan

Homer Jordan was the Clemson football starting quarterback from 1980 through 1982 and helped lead the Tigers to their first-ever national championship in 1981. During his playing career, he would throw for 3.643 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding another 971 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.

He was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 as well as the Athens Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.

Woodrow “Woody” Dantzler

There are a lot of current Clemson football fans because of Woody.

He took over the Clemson offense fulltime in 1999 as a sophomore after backing up current Clemson football quarterback coach Brandon Streeter as a freshman.

To call Woody mesmerizing would not do him justice.

Woody was nothing short of spectacular on and off the field as a player and as a person. In 2001, he became the first-ever college quarterback to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards. While that is commonplace in college football today, 20 years ago that had never been done.

While Woody never gets the love he deserves in comparison to his peers, like Michael Vick, Dantzler meant a lot to a lot of people and he helped to pioneer what it meant to be a versatile Black quarterback.

He was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.

Tajh Boyd

Tajh Boyd is an entirely different type of person – on and off the field.

On the field, Boyd is one of the best not only in Clemson football history but also ACC history. His 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons are all ranked in the top 12 single-season passing yards in conference history. His 11,904 passing yards are the second-most in conference history all-time and his 107 passing touchdowns are the ACC standard.

Tajh also has a conference record of 133 total touchdowns. There was nothing this man could not accomplish in a Tiger uniform.

I typically try to keep my personal stories out of articles, but this one I must share about Tajh.

His senior day back in November of 2013 as he ran down the hill one last time in a Clemson uniform, my then nine-year-old son and I were standing near the bottom and after he hugged Coach Swinney, he was making his way to the sideline and instead of high-fiving my son, he picked him up and gave him a bear hug. To this day, that is something that my now 16-year-old son and I talk about all the time.

Tajh means a lot to the Clemson family for everything he gave us on the field as well as everything that he continues to do for the community off the field.

Whether you see him in a restaurant, at a game, or listen to him on the radio or TV, he is one of the most genuine people you would ever want to meet and we are so lucky to have watched him grow into the amazing person that he is.

Deshaun Watson

Deshaun Watson is the greatest player in Clemson football history and that isn’t debatable. Yes, he brought another championship and he brought a lot of clout that has enabled Clemson football to take the next step as a program but it’s what he did off the field and in the classroom that made Deshaun different.

This young man took 21 hours a semester, kept a GPA higher than a 3.0, spent hundreds of hours volunteering his time, and became the first college quarterback to throw for more than 4,000 yards and rush for at least 1,000 in the same season.

Last week, Deshaun became the highest-paid player in the NFL. While he didn’t get the eye-opening long-term deal that Patrick Mahomes got (10 years $500 million) but Deshaun will make more money each of the next four years and then will have an opportunity to sign an even bigger contract before he turns 30.

As Coach Swinney said this week to Deshaun, this is all possible because of who he is as a person. He changes lives and continues to live his in a way that makes his friends and family proud.

While most Clemson football fans never talked about the color skin that our quarterbacks have, it’s especially important today to recognize that for the last 40+ years, Black quarterbacks have been able to come to Clemson and play a position that would not have been afforded to them at most places.

With all of the negativity surrounding the program from outside media over the last several months, it’s important to reflect on what the truth of the program is and the lives that have been changed by the impact of African American student-athletes.

These young men are more than just football players and its time that people put their bias aside and realize what these young men are asking for and to do what we can to support them as seek true equality as people and not simply as entertainers.