When Travis Etienne scored a first quarter rushing touchdown last Saturday, he tied a NCAA record for career games scoring a touchdown. On Saturday, Etienne has a chance to break a record held by college football legends Tim Tebow (Florida) and Kenneth Dixon (Louisiana Tech) and scored a touchdown (by any means) and break yet another record in the Louisiana natives collegiate career.
When Etienne broke onto the scene in Tiger Town his freshman year, fans thought Etienne had a chance to be a special running back. I don’t know how many thought that in four years he would have a seat at the table during the discussion of the best ACC running backs of all time.
Since his freshman year in 2018, Etienne has recorded 3,515 rushing yards for the Tigers. That is more than a staggering 28 FBS programs including some big name programs such as Michigan State, West Virginia and Tennessee. Etienne already has the school record in rushing yards, touchdowns and is the active FBS all-purpose yards leader.
Many fans were surprised last January when the senior announced he would be returning to Clemson for his senior year campaign. With weapons like Trevor Lawrence, Amari Rodgers and speedsters on the outside, analysts and media members began to speculate if this would be the best Clemson offense the university had ever seen.
When I asked Trevor Lawrence what goes through his head when he hands the ball off to Etienne, he gave an answer for the ages.
“It’s funny, as a quarterback when we hand the ball off, part of our offense is faking five hard steps whatever way opposite the run. We get graded on that for “loafs” if we don’t do it (the fake), and some games I’ll get a couple of loafs because it’s so hard to hand the ball off to Travis and not watch him run. I have a hard time handing it, and looking the other way and carrying out my fake. The things he does are just unbelievable sometimes.”
Lawrence, who has shared the backfield with Etienne for two and a quarter of a season now, sometimes just wants to sit back and marvel at what the running back can do.
“You never know what he’s going to do or what situations he’s going to get out of. Sometimes as a quarterback you just want to hand it off and watch him run and see what he does. It definitely takes some pressure off of me, the quarterback, when you have that guy next to you.”
Etienne’s teammates and fans aren’t the only one that like to marvel at the running backs talents though. I asked offensive coordinator Tony Elliot if when he watches film on the running back if he sits back in amazement of what he can do, or if he is just used to Etienne slipping out of tough situations.
“I say: “WOW he’s amazing to myself” and then I go into the meeting rooms and tell him he needs to get better,” said Elliot while cracking a big smile. “That touchdown run that he had, I think it was third and two, and we knew we were going to be in a tough situation, that we were going to have to run the ball.”
“He just continues to run the ball with confidence, and the beautiful thing about Travis is he really, truly embraces the mindset that not one person can’t tackle me and I’m trying to go score every time I touch the ball. The ability to run with such passion and relentlessness and then at the same time too, his contact balance, his speed and his explosiveness all contribute to that.”
Die-hard Clemson fans know how spoiled we are to have #9 in the backfield, especially since his decision to give it “one last ride” with the Tigers. Fully expect Etienne to become the career leader in games with a touchdown in the FBS on Saturday as the Tigers take on the Miami Hurricanes at 7:30 on ABC.
