Deshaun Watson is a busy man these days. Chad Morris understands that, so he tries to be respectful of the demands on his old quarterback's time. Still, he likes to check in -- a text here and there, at least a few times a week, maybe every day.
They'll talk on the phone, too. Watson wants to stay in touch, check in on his former coach. They don't talk much football, but the phone gets passed around to Morris' wife and son. Watson wants to get the scoop on their lives, too.
The Tigers' superstar quarterback and the man who brought him to Clemson are now separated by nearly 1,000 miles and on divergent career paths, but there's a bond there that neither will allow to be broken.
Watson calls Morris, now the head coach at SMU, one of his best friends.
Morris knows Watson might be the best player he'll ever coach, the gem he discovered before the rest of the world.
And now that Watson's career has reached the verge of a championship, Morris remains along for the ride.
"We talk all the time," Watson said. "It's about how we're doing, and how we hope we'll see each other soon."
It was a warm summer afternoon at Clemson five years ago when former Tigers cornerback Robert Smith was strolling past the practice field during a camp for prospects.
Smith had never heard of Watson, had no clue who the kid was, but the skinny QB with the perfect mechanics and the big arm was impossible to ignore. Watson moved faster than everyone else, looked sharper.
"I was like, 'This kid is just on a different level,'" Smith recalled. "I knew there was no way he was leaving without an offer."
It wasn't hard to see that Watson was special from an early age, and as his legend grew at Gainesville (Ga.) High, where he'd win a state title and rewrite the record books, every coach and scout and recruiting site in America eventually saw what Smith did that day.
But no one saw it at the college recruiting level before Morris.
"I was at Clemson maybe a week, maybe three or four days, when I offered him," said Morris, the former Tigers offensive coordinator, who came aboard in 2011. "I saw Vince Young in high school, and this kid from Gainesville, Georgia, was just as special."
This was Clemson's advantage. The Tigers were first, and as it turned out, that meant a lot to Watson.
Morris was in the gym for Watson's basketball games as a high school sophomore. He introduced Watson to his wife and kids. He spent nearly four full years laying the groundwork, and Watson rewarded him with unwavering loyalty. Watson never took an official visit anywhere but Clemson.
"I devoted pretty much my entire time at Clemson to recruiting him," Morris said. "Any time there was an opportunity for us to visit him or his school, any time the NCAA allowed it, I was there. But I knew that he was going to be special from the day I saw him."
It didn't take long for Clemson to see the results of the work that Morris and Watson put in. On the first drive of Watson's college career, he whipped a bullet to Charone Peake in the end zone at Georgia's Sanford Stadium, wowing even the raucous Bulldogs fans. Two weeks later, he'd wrestled the starting job away from senior Cole Stoudt with an impressive performance in relief at Florida State, and in his first career start at North Carolina, Watson threw six touchdown passes.
"We set the record for most times using the word 'wow' on the headsets," receivers coach Jeff Scott said of Watson's freshman campaign.
For all the wows, there were setbacks, too. Watson was hurt twice during the season, beating South Carolina with a torn ACL. The success was instant, but Watson hadn't come close to reaching his potential.
Then Morris got the call offering him a job as the head coach at Southern Methodist. Four years of relationship building with Watson was about to come undone.
Morris laughs now about his decision, but at the time it was gut-wrenching.
"I knew what was coming," Morris said. "If Deshaun could stay healthy, I knew what they could achieve."
If Morris was worried about walking away just before his investment paid off, Clemson fans wondered if Watson would struggle without the man who'd sold him on the Tigers to begin with.
Part of the allure of Clemson was Morris' offense. It was a nearly exact replica of what Watson ran in high school, perfectly suited to Watson's strengths as a QB. Watson was talented enough to succeed in any offense, but major changes could reset his development.
So Morris picked up the phone and called Watson. He wanted his quarterback's blessing before his decision was final. Watson was happy to give it.
"It was hard, but at this level I understand what this role and what this business is, and he had to take the next step," Watson said. "I knew during my recruiting process that some day he would be a head coach. It was just time to move on and take that next step."
Watson's offseason rehab on his injured knee kept him out of spring practice as Scott and Tony Elliott, now co-offensive coordinators, installed their version of Morris' offense. In Clemson's opening game, Mike Williams -- one of Watson's favorite targets in 2014 -- went down with a neck injury. By Week 2, every starter from last year's offensive line was gone from the lineup.
Watson never flinched.
In his first season without Morris, Watson led Clemson to a 13-0 record, excelled as a runner and passer en route to a third-place finish in the Heisman balloting, and has the Tigers two games from a national championship. It's everything Morris predicted when he first saw Watson five years ago. He's just doing it for a new set of playcallers.
"He's just relentless about preparing," Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Thats what I love about him. He doesn't let anything get in the way of that."
Across the field in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield has made headlines with his rags-to-riches story and the massive chip on his shoulder. Watson's journey to this point was the opposite. Everyone loved him, but he found the one coach he could trust.
That's a special story, too, Morris insists. It's a rare thing to find a kid that talented who stays true to his word, stays loyal through adversity, lives up to the hype in every way possible.
Scott put it more succinctly: "He's one of those guys that, as coaches, you may never coach someone else like that."
Watson shrugs it all off. It's a funny thing to have every dream become reality, every optimistic prediction proven accurate. Some folks might be surprised by that. Not Watson. Not Morris.
"I knew he'd have the success he's having right now. I knew they'd be really good," Morris said. "And I'm excited for him, excited for all of them."