As a high school quarterback, Clements led Huntsville to the 1953 AA Texas State Championship.
He was a top recruit coming out of high school, and chose to go to Texas, where his father Otto had been a two-time all-Southwest Conference baseball player.
Against USC the following week, he was knocked out in the first five minutes and replaced by Walter Fondren and third-string quarterback Dick Miller.
With the exception of the first game against USC, when Vince Matthews replaced him after he suffered a concussion, Clements would be the primary quarterback all season.
Clements fell down the depth chart and as a result only saw limited action in four games during his senior season.
During his 19 years in Huntsville, he guided the Hornets to 14 playoff seasons and won the 1980 state title.
[citation needed] Steve was the starting quarterback at Huntsville, where he became Texas's high school player of the year, and the state's all-time leading high school passer, surpassing the record set by Ty Detmer.