November 18, 2000. Death Valley.
The Clemson Tigers were trailing their arch-rivals from Columbia 14-13 with 19 seconds remaining in the game, with the ball stuck precariously on their own 42-yard line. Before the Tigers’ prayers could be answered, quarterback Woody Dantzler needed to give the football wings.
Dantzler took the snap and rolled left. Turning, he launched a heave of a throw down the right sideline in the direction of Clemson wide receiver Rod Gardner who was desperately working to gain separation from Gamecocks’ junior defensive back Andre Goodman.
As 82,000 raucous fans in Death Valley prayed for a miracle, the ball that Dantzler had sent skyward just seconds earlier emerged from the gleam of the lights and fell into the hands of Gardner at the South Carolina eight-yard line as he raised his hands to the heavens. Prayer answered.
The rest, of course, is history.
Two plays later, true freshman kicker Aaron Hunt planted a 25-yard field goal between the uprights and onto the famed Death Valley hill with three seconds remaining. Clemson 16, South Carolina 14, and immortality for Dantzler who had made the Hail Mary throw to set the stage for pandemonium.
Truthfully, though, Dantzler was already a legend long before he connected with Gardner down the right sideline. Woody had been on the right side of football history for a long time before that.
A native of Orangeburg, SC, Dantzler played his high school football at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. Woody took over as the starting quarterback for the Bruins as a sophomore in 1995 and never looked back.
Dantzler ended his high school career with a staggering stat line. 7,113 passing yards and 60 career passing touchdowns, 3,134 rushing yards with 35 scores on the ground, and over 11,00 all-purpose yards in what amounted to two and a half seasons as the starting signal caller for Orangeburg-Wilkinson.
Woody capped one of the greatest prep football careers in state history with a season for the ages as a senior; 2,891 passing yards, 1,628 rushing yards, and 40 total touchdowns accounted for. And to top it off, a full-ride scholarship to play for the Clemson Tigers.
As electric as Dantzler was, little did anyone between the Sandhills and the Foothills know what was to come in the next three years.
The Tigers’ new dynamo was preparing to unleash his arsenal on the ACC and the rest of college football and cement his legacy as one of the greatest players in Clemson football history.
During the 1998 season, his first at Clemson, Dantzler would redshirt. It would not be long, however, before he would be pressed into duty. Just as he had as a high school sophomore, Woody took over under center for the Tigers’ fifth game of the season against the University of North Carolina, his first collegiate start.
Dantzler again was the second-string quarterback entering 1999, behind Brandon Streeter, but this time when he replaced Streeter in the season’s fourth game, again against the Tar Heels, Woody would seize the job, and the spotlight, for good.
A 56-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run proved to be the backbreaker in the Tigers’ 31-20 victory that day. In the aftermath of the win, it would also be a viewing portal into the future for Dantzler and the Tigers.
Later that same season, against Maryland, Dantzler erupted. Completing 16 of 23 passes for 252 yards and carrying the ball 22 times for 183 yards, Woody’s 435 yards of offense surpassed the Clemson record for a single game previously held by Bobby Gage.
Dantzler finished his redshirt freshman season with 1,506 passing yards and 723 rushing yards. Then, in the 2000 campaign which was his first as a full-time starter, he put up even better numbers.
In simplest terms, Dantzler was a blur. With a rocket arm and blazing speed, teams found themselves often overmatched by his dual-threat ability. Send a blitz? Dantzler could sling it a country mile and take the top off a defense. Drop back in coverage? Woody could simply take off, shirk a tackle attempt or two, and race to the endzone with a scintillating touchdown run. He was equally prolific at either.
Woody Dantzler was also ahead of his time.
Dantzler finished 2000 with 1,871 passing yards and 1,028 rushing yards, the later which was a record for any quarterback in ACC history at the time. Of course, the Gardner play was simply an exclamation point on Dantzler’s ascension to college football royalty.
During his final year for the Tigers in 2001, Woody simply cemented it all into stone with one of the greatest single seasons in ACC and college football history. Passing for over 2,000 yards and rushing for 1,075, Dantzler became the first player in NCAA history at that time to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a single season. His flare for the dramatic emanated one final time against number nine ranked Georgia Tech, with Woody scoring on an 11-yard lightning bolt of a run to give Clemson a 47-44 upset victory over the Yellow Jackets in overtime.
By the time he made the decision to turn pro during the winter of 2001, Dantzler’s numbers and on-field carnage left in his wake were staggering. Woody finished his time at Clemson with 5,819 passing yards, 2,704 on the ground, 8,523 all-purpose yards, and 64 career touchdowns. He left Clemson as the holder of over 50 offensive records. Many of them still stand.
Dantzler never followed a trend for college quarterbacks. He was the trend. In the coming years, quarterbacks like Dantzler who were prolific in both passing and running the football became the rage of college football. Woody gave everyone a glimpse of what it would look like.
For Tiger fans and fans of Clemson’s opponents, it was either electrifying or terrifying depending on which side of the ball you were on. For everyone who watched him, though, it was legendary.
Dantzler went undrafted in 2001. The dual-threat quarterback style did not get in vogue with the NFL until some years later. Woody would get a shot in the NFL, however. Over parts of three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons, he still found a way to leave his mark.
Professional coaches changed his position to that of a kick returner, wide receiver, and safety. He played only one game at quarterback in the NFL for the Falcons. He scored his first professional touchdown on December 8, 2002 on an 84-yard kick-off return against the San Francisco 49’ers and reminded everyone what a special talent Woody Dantzler truly was.
Dantzler left the NFL after the 2005 season, but through it all, has maintained his love for the game. Though his playing days are long gone, Woody gives back to the game he loves by molding the next generation of gridiron heroes in the Palmetto State as a coach, including time spent at Fairfield Central High School.
In the time since Dantzler lit up the field and the stands at Memorial Stadium, the Clemson Tigers have seen three more generational quarterbacks grace the gridiron at Death Valley. Tahj Boyd, DeShaun Watson, and Trevor Lawrence are all from the same ilk as Dantzler. All three could run, had cannon arms, and possessed that same fire and will to win. Watson and Lawrence would bring two national championships back to Clemson during their tenure. The national media dubbed them as football assassins. They certainly were that, but they were not the first.
That title belongs to Woody Dantzler, the man who laid the foundation for contemporary Clemson quarterbacks that would follow in his footsteps. He would be elected into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007, a final, deserving honor for one of the greatest to ever lace up his cleats for the Tigers.
During his playing days, Dantzler stood at only 5-feet-10 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds. He was small for a quarterback.
His legend, and his heart, will always be far bigger.
