Athletes are just like the rest of us mortals.

They enjoy praise, but it feels best when it comes from their peers.

Sunday, Clemson senior quarterback felt the love.

When asked who the next “face of the ACC” was — some guy named Matt Ryan filled the bill in 2007 — Georgia Tech offensive tackle Andrew Gardner threw out Harper’s name.

“Cullen Harper of Clemson had a good year last year and that team is highly rated coming into this year,” Gardner said. “There’s a lot of potential for him to be good. A good quarterback is always a good face of a conference. If they go out and they perform well and he performs well, I think he’s the kind of guy that the media and fans can get behind.”

Big praise for a guy who until last season had never started a college football game and was expected to lose his starting role to wunderkind freshman Willy Korn.

A year later, Harper was the star attraction at Sunday’s ACC Football Kickoff opener, with an array of tape recorders laid on his table and sportswriters crowding around to hear every word.

“It’s quite the honor, it really is,” said Harper, who is likely to be named the ACC’s preseason player of the year when media balloting is released today. “Last year people were just writing me off. People didn’t think I was going to even last three games. For (the hype) to be where it is this year, it’s quite an honor and I’m thankful.”

For the record, it took 12 minutes, 26 seconds for Korn’s name to enter Sunday’s conversation, and even then it was clearly in jest.

After completing 65.1 percent of his passes for 27 touchdowns, six interceptions and 230.1 yards per game, Harper is firmly entrenched as the Tigers’ starting quarterback and co-captain — proof that patience pays.

“It’s been night-and-day different,” he said. “I’ve always had confidence in myself but I really didn’t know how I was going to go out there and play. This year, I know I’ve got the talent, I know the coaching staff is going to put me in position to make a play.

“I’m a lot more confident than I was this time last year, but I still know I’ve still got to work hard every day, take everything seriously. If I continue to do that, I think I’ll be all right.”

Harper’s numbers (most single-season touchdowns in Clemson history, second-most passing yards, led the ACC in passing efficiency) are impressive, but they’re dwarfed by what he does when people aren’t looking.

Take the final month of 2007, for example. In the fourth quarter of a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to Boston College, Harper hit his throwing shoulder hard on the Memorial Stadium turf while scoring what was then a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown.

He was in extreme pain against South Carolina, but still completed 28 of 38 passes for 229 yards and a score while leading the game-winning drive (completing five straight passes for 69 yards).

“Honestly, it felt like every throw, my shoulder was coming out of place, just dangling there,” he said. “Anytime I’d have to come across my body, anytime I’d throw the ball, my shoulder felt like it was disintegrating.”

He had what was termed as minor surgery the following week, but the joint still wasn’t right for a Chick-fil-A Bowl loss to Auburn (“60 percent,”) Harper said, which could explain why he completed just 14 of 33 passes for a season-low 109 yards.

Rest has helped him recover the old zing and motion, and Harper says his arm might be even stronger now.

His hard work and grit commands his teammates’ respect. Just ask senior safety Michael Hamlin, who represented the Tigers Sunday as Harper’s co-captain.

“I always had confidence in Cullen going against him in practice,” Hamlin said. “I came in with him, so I was waiting the last four years. Just watching him in practice, I always knew he was going to be a great player because of the work he puts in.

“First one on the field, last one off, he’s the type of guy who would be in the weight room doing extra stuff while other guys would be up in the locker room waiting for the coaches to come get them.”

Now, a year after many predicted his demise, Harper is a darkhorse Heisman Trophy candidate. Not that he’s worried. Hard work made his doubters believers, so why should he change?

“Obviously you have goals and expectations for yourself that you want to present yourself with, but you go out and play,” he said. “You look yourself to the best of your ability, and you know you look yourself in the mirror, and say if you do the best you can do, that’s good enough.”