#11 Woodrow Dantzler, QB Dantzler Fact: Listed as one of the top 2 candidates for the 2001 Heisman Trophy by Lindy’s and CBS Sportsline.com.Fall 2001 Depth Chart Position: First-team QuarterbackYear Lettered: 1998, 1999, 2000Bowl Participation: 1999 Peach Bowl vs. Mississippi State, 2001 Gator Bowl vs. Virginia TechTop Honor: One of 8 semifinalists for 2000 Davey O’Brien Award
Overview: One of the leading candidates for the Heisman Trophy heading into the 2001 season…first-team preseason All-American according to Lindy’s…also listed as the #1 candidate for the O’Brien Award by that publication…midseason Heisman candidate in 2000 who suffered a left upper ankle injury at North Carolina and that injury took him out of the honors picture for 2000…had surgery to correct subluxating tendons on the outside of the ankle on January 8, 2001, the surgery forced him to miss contact in spring practice…running at full speed by mid-June…after seven games of 2000 was actually listed as the #1 candidate for the award by heisman.com internet site…midseason first-team All-American at quarterback by cnnsi.com and The Sporting News…he was named midseason national MVP by cnnsi.com…was on pace to become first college football player in history to record 1000 yards rushing and 2000 yards passing in same season until the injury in the eighth game of the season…finished the year with 1028 yards rushing and 1871 passing…he played the equivalent of 9 games, even though he played in every game…one of eight semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien Award, which is given to the top college football quarterback…one of 15 national semifinalists for Offensive Player of the Year by Football News…went three straight games without 100 yards of total offense after the injury…came back with 265 yards of total offense against South Carolina, then 261 against Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl…that was before the surgery on an injured foot…broke 16 Clemson records in 2000, including single season marks for quarterback rushing yards (1028), single season total offense (2899) and touchdown responsibility (24)…has 19 Clemson records altogether and more are on the way…needs just 1627 yards to become Clemson’s career total offense leader…needs just 37 rushing yards to break Steve Fuller’s record for rushing yards by a quarterback…needs just seven touchdowns rushing or passing to break Fuller’s touchdown responsibility record…owns six of Clemson’s 19 300-yard total offense games in history …also third in career interception avoidance (.0281), fourth in total offense (5159), fifth in passing efficiency (127.2) and fifth in completion percentage (.556)…became ninth Clemson running back and first quarterback to go over 1000 yards rushing in a season when he had 81 against Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl… set ACC record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a regular seasn with 947…ranked in the top 50 in the nation in both rushing (47th) and passing efficiency (22nd) in 2000…also 29th in total offense, quite an accomplishment considering he played just the equivalent of 8.5 regular season games…third in the ACC in rushing overall with 86.1 yards a game, he was also third in passing efficiency at 134.5…rushed for 13 touchdowns, tied for first in the ACC with teammate Travis Zachery…burst on the national scene with 220 yards rushing and 154 yards passing in the victory over Virginia.. …named national player of the week by cnnsi.com and ESPN for that game…that was the first of four straight games of 100 yards rushing and 300 yards total offense, a first in college football history….went over the 5000-yard mark in career total offense in the Gator Bowl, he is fourth in school history in that category with 5159 yards…needs 1627 yards as a senior to break the record held by Nealon Greene…ACC Offensive Back of the Week on two occasions in 2000, for his performances against The Citadel and Wake Forest…named Clemson’s player of the game three times by ABC, his performances against Misouri, Virginia and NC State…also Clemson’s player of the game as chosen by Jefferson Pilot television crew for his performance at Duke…three-time Army ROTC Offensive take no prisoners award in 2000, he was chosen for that honor by the Clemson coaches for the Citadel, Virginia and South Carolina games….began the year with 16-17 passing performance against the Citadel, a Clemson mark for single game completion percentage and efficiency, given a minimum of 15 attempts…he threw for three scores and 192 yards in that game…against Missouri he threw for two and rushed for one…the Wake Forest game started his run of 100-yard rushing and 300-yard total offense performances…his 220 yards rushing against Virginia were an ACC record for a quarterback and the most rushing yards in a single game by any ACC player in 2000…had 174 yards passing and 134 rushing at Duke, he played just three periods…had his only 200-yard passing performance against NC State when he threw for 220 and rushed for 103…has six games in his career in which he has rushed for 100 and gained 300 in total offense, more than any other Clemson player in history…has two career games with at least 150 rushing and 150 passing…through seven games in 2000 he was ranked in the top 13 in the nation in five different statistical categories, including rushing and passing efficiency…through seven games he was averaging 117 yards rushing and 181.6 passing yards per game, he completed 62 percent of his passes and averaged 6.7 yards per rush…then the injury hit in the first half at North Carolina…the injury affected him the next three games, he had two weeks to prepare for South Carolina and he gained 265 yards of total offense…highlight of that game was 50-yard pass to Rod Gardner with just 10 seconds left, setting up Aaron Hunt’s game winning field goal…threw for 185 and rushed for 80 against South Carolina…had eight games of at least 250 yards of total offense in 2000 and has 13 such games in his Clemson career.. strong team leader, he has been a member of LIFELINE the last three years…Clemson athletic department’s representative at the NCAA Leadership conference in Orlando in May of 2000….worked with children at Clemson YMCA in summer of 2001…introduced Alan Page at a lecture on the Clemson campus in February of 2001…said Mr. Page was most impressive person he has met…strongest quarterback in Clemson history, he has bench pressed 405 pounds, ranks eighth on the entire team in the bench press.
In 1999: Perhaps the most productive quarterback in Clemson history on a per quarter basis in 1999, he had 231 yards per game in total offense during the regular season, 30th best in the nation…his average of 209 yards a game for the entire year was second best in Clemson history on a per game basis…he did that while playing just 28 of the 48 quarters as Brandon Streeter’s backup…. ranked 31st in the nation in passing efficiency in 1999 with a 131.68 figure…outstanding runner and passer, set Clemson single game total offense record with 435 at Maryland he broke Bobby Gage’s record, which had stood for 52 years…all-around abilities are reflected in the ACC stats, he was fourth in passing efficiency, third in total offense and eighth in rushing, even though he saw limited time…named player of the week by four different services for that performance against Maryland, USATODAY.com ACC Player of the Week, The Sporting News, Jefferson Pilot and the ACC Sportswriters Association…also made CNN/SI National Honor Roll for the performance…also had 305 yards of total offense in loss at Georgia Tech, giving him a pair of 300-yard total offense games in the same season…ABC/Chevrolet Player of the Game against North Carolina when he came off the bench to lead Clemson to victory by hitting 7-15 passes for 131 and rushing 11-82, including 56-yard touchdown that clinched the game. ..his 588 yards rushing were most by a Clemson quarterback since Steve Fuller had 649 in 1978…that rushing yardage total was 10th in the nation for quarterbacks on a total yardage basis, ninth on a per game basis…averaged 64.4 yards per game rushing, ahead of the 58.5 by Michael Vick of Virginia Tech…third in the ACC in total offense with his 231.2 yards a game, his 2094 total was fifth best in school history for a season…had career high 23 completions in 41 attempts for career high 284 yards passing at NC State…followed that with his monster game at Maryland when he was 16-23 for 252 yards…had 161 efficiency rating for that game, his best performance as a starter…hit 22-32 passes for 201 at Wake Forest…had four games of at least 200-yards passing and six games of at least 200-yards of total offense…played entire game against #1 Florida State, he threw for 102 and rushed for 86…had solid season finale at South Carolina, he threw for 249 and rushed for 17 more…connected with Rod Gardner on game clinching touchdown for 29 yards, it was a fourth-down and long play.
In 1998: Started the North Carolina game in Chapel Hill, he played 50 snaps in that contest…played in five of the 11 games and was 8-17 passing…fine runner, he was fifth on the team in rushing with 34-84, that included 56 yards in sacks, so he averaged over five yards a carry, when running the ball on straight rushing plays…Clemson’s second leading rusher against Furman in the season opener with 12-65…he had all 12 of the rushes in the second quarter when he took the Tigers 80 yards to a field goal…was 1-1 passing for 19 yards in that game…played 10 snaps the following week against Virginia Tech and was 1-2 for 7 yards…hit 3-7 passes for 31 yards in relief against Wake Forest.
In 1997: Red-shirted the 1997 season at Clemson…..In High School: A 1996 Shrine Bowl participant for the Sandlappers at quarterback…a South Carolina Mr. Football finalist, he lost out to his current Clemson center, Kyle Young…best quarterback prospect in the state of South Carolina over the last three years according to the Southeastern Recruiting Alliance…..ranked as the seventh best pass-run quarterback in the nation by the Recruiting Advisor….listed as one of 25 “Freshmen of Influence” in the Atlantic Coast area by Lindy’s…listed as one of the top 31 incoming freshman quarterbacks in the nation by Athlon…listed as one of the top 50 incoming freshmen in the ACC by Athlon… threw for 2,461 yards with 22 touchdowns as a junior…led the state with 2,891 passing yards and 21 touchdowns against only five interceptions as a senior…also rushed for 1,628 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior…in his three-year high school career, he completed 507 of 791 (.640) passes for 7,113 yards and 60 touchdowns…also rushed for 3,134 career yards with 35 touchdowns…had an incredible 11,000 all-purpose yards in his career…passed for 1,761 yards with 17 touchdowns as a sophomore, even though he did not start until after the fourth game of the season…voted the Offensive Player-of-the-Year in the state as a senior…a USA Today Honorable Mention All-American and a SuperPrep All-American…rated by the Atlanta Journal/Constitution as one of the top 100 players in the southeast and one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the southeast….was All-State, All-Region, All-Area (All-Area Player-of-the-Year), and the District Player-of-the-Year…also a Tom Lemming All-American….also ran track at O-W…he finished third in the state in the 400 meters…played for Coach Tommy Brown…born Woodrow Dantzler on 10-4-79…majoring in marketing, he received his degree in August of 2001.
Quotes on Clemson Quarterback Woodrow Dantzler
“He’s a single-wing tailback now. That offense helps him because they’ve tailored it to him. We thought we had enough people around the ball to stop him. I don’t know if we missed tackles or what happened, but once he hit the secondary, I knew we were in trouble.” George Welsh, Virginia Head Coach
“You go out there to stop the pass and you have his escapability (to deal with) and it makes it tough to get him down. He is a strong runner. We had him a few times and he ran right through us. At times it looked like a game of flag football.” Carl Franks, Duke Head Coach
“Woody Dantzler is a very good player who is tough to handle. Sometimes you find a player who is good in the passing game, but he is unable to run the ball. Dantzler can throw the ball very well and he can run it like a tailback. He really gave us some problems. I thought we were playing good defense for a while, then he got results.” Jim Caldwell, Wake Forest Head Coach
‘He ran the offense very efficiently and effectively. It looked like a hard offense to run because he’s got a lot of things to do out there. We didn’t think he could throw the ball downfield very well… but we found out he could.” Moe Ankney, Missouri Defensive Coordinator
“You’ve got to make sure you keep him in the pocket, not take too many chances in your pass rush. You can’t gamble inside and let him get out of the pocket and into open space where he can make a play.” Ljubomir Stamenich, University of Virginia defensive end.
“If the Tigers most versatile, electrifying player in decades, maybe ever, isn’t a legitimate candidate for college football’s top award, then no one is.” Bob Gillespie, Senior Writer, The State Newspaper, Columbia, SC
“It’s the production that counts, and Woody Dantzler is off to a tremendous start. He’s having the best year of any quarterback out there.” Gary Danielson, ABC Sports commentator
“Woodrow Dantzler is a Michael Vick-type QB. He has the athleticism we’ve seen take over college football the last few years. Shaun King (Tampa Bay Bucs) ran a similar system to an undefeated season at Tulane under Tommy Bowden two years ago. Not only can Dantzler throw like King, he’s also very versatile because of his ability to run. ” Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN Analyst
April 19, 2024
