He absorbed shots that would have buried a lot of prize fighters on Monday night let alone quarterbacks. But always -- always -- Deshaun Watson got up and answered the bell.
And now he is a national champion.
There were so many opportunities for Watson and his Clemson teammates to fold in the College Football Playoff finale in Tampa, Fla., absorbing body blows from a swarming Alabama team akin to something from the early rounds of any Rocky film.
But Watson does not play a champion on celluloid. He is the real thing. And he proved it on Monday.
Taking the huddle moments before embarking on the game-winning drive -- which began at the Clemson 32-yard line with 2:01 remaining, the Tigers trailing the Crimson Tide 31-28 thanks to an astonishing scoring drive from Alabama -- Watson held the gaze of his teammates.
"Don't panic, we're built for moments like this," Watson said of the moment. "Now let's go finish it."
Finish it he did, connecting with Hunter Renfrow on a 2-yard touchdown pass with one measly second remaining to clinch a 35-31 comeback victory that will likely never fade in the minds of Clemson fans -- or for so many here in northeast Georgia completely unaffiliated with the color orange.
Starting from his early days at City Park those of us who followed Watson with any regularity learned, there was no quit inside the player. He proved it again to the rest of the nation on Monday. And when you combine that with his special talent and will to win, you have history.
Forget the Heisman disappointment; forget the accolades. Watson was always more obsessed with winning on the field.
Make no mistake, the junior had plenty of help -- including an equally gritty Tigers defense, as well as receivers that came up with big catch after big catch, especially late, as Clemson clawed back from a 14-0 deficit.
Watson and his teammates literally willed themselves back into contention, chipping away little by little. They did not take their first lead until the fourth quarter and then watched Alabama counter quickly before finally landing the real knockout punch via a last-ditch drive.
There were nowhere near as many explosive plays as what Watson engineered in last year's national title loss -- this game featured too much bruising defense for that -- but what the Tigers did was to stay focused, stay calm, and keep churning.
Rarely has Watson needed to do so over the last seven years, winning so much with the Red Elephants and Tigers thanks to overwhelming ability and the shock-and-awe of big play after big play.
Alabama was not about to allow that -- but the Tigers proved they could thrive even without -- or without a legitimate running game for that matter, as Watson and running back Wayne Gallman found little but Crimson jerseys every time they tucked the ball.
Watson was more than happy to stay in the pocket, however, facing down a series of defensive haymakers -- go back and watch the replays of the shots that Watson absorbed and ask yourself how he remained in the game, let alone keyed a winning drive. But finish he did, completing 36 of 56 passes for 420 yards and three scores, leading the Tigers to their first national title since 1981.
"No one ever panicked," said Watson, who was caught almost speechless following his final collegiate contest. "(I told my teammates) let's be legendary; let's be great."
Certainly legendary is how Watson capped the second level of his football career on Monday, continuing the soaring start he showed us all here in northeast Georgia with the kind of collegiate undertaking of which statues are made.
Now he can take all that patience, talent and focus and set it toward the professional game.
The NFL draft will take place April 27-29 in Philadelphia. And any general manager watching on Monday had to like what he saw from a player that may have hit the canvas a time or two but came back stronger each time, simply refusing to lose.
