Today Trevor Lawrence made it “official” and did as we all expected and declared for the NFL Draft. The absolute 1000% number one choice and the first pick in the upcoming 2021 NFL draft. Ever since Lawrence committed to Clemson back in his Sophomore season of high school the big gunslinger out of Cartersville, Ga has been earmarked as the best player at his position for decades if not all time. The perfect size and measurables, the character of this young man to top all that alongside his leaning on his belief system and faith to carry him through a three-year college career spent in the national spotlight.
Lawrence has impressed and lived up to the high standards set by an overzealous media each and every year. How do you top a freshman season where you led your team to a National Championship. With a career filled with accomplishments both on and off the field. Lawrence epitomizes what a true collegiate athlete is modeled after in the day and age of social media. Look at the 2020 off-season when even playing college football was at times considered a “long shot”. It was Lawrence who raised his voice on social media and led the way as the mouthpiece for the college football world. It’s this kind of self-awareness and at the same time his broader awareness about the bigger picture socially that also led to his taking a leadership role on the “social justice” issues plaguing the nation.
Lawrence has never once stepped off the path he has chosen to walk during his three-year tenure as the Tigers starting quarterback. He has risen to the challenge over and over and ends his time with the Tigers competitively at 34-2 all time, that is a .944 winning percentage. A mark that will be hard to top in any day and age at Clemson or anywhere. But as Lawrence departs a three-year graduate an ACC Champion three times over, CFB Playoff appearances all three seasons, and a National Title to go along with a laundry list of personal awards. The one quality that Trevor had that stood out most to Clemson fans is the trait Clemson fans admire most…. that of a true “Clemson Man” and that is what Trevor leaves with, a true love for his time and experience at Clemson and how it has made him that much more prepared to become the world’s most recognizable athlete when he is chosen #1 Overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Courtesy Clemson Athletics:
Entered 2020 having copleted 527-of-804 career passes for 6,945 yards with 66 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 1,610 snaps in 30 career games (26 starts) … also enters 2020 with 967 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns on 163 career carries … started the final 11 games in 2018 as a true freshman in helping Clemson become the first major college football team in the modern era to go 15-0 … helped the squad win each of its last 10 games by 20 points or more … became the first true freshman quarterback to lead his team to a national title since 1985 … was a consensus freshman All-America honoree who earned a bevy of nation-wide and conference-wide honors for both his athletic and academic success.
2020: Became the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 2015 and 2016 finalist Deshaun Watson … Maxwell Award finalist … Davey O’Brien Award finalist… Manning Award finalist … Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist … Walter Camp Player of the Year Finalist … Bobby Bowden Award finalist … AFCA Good Works team selection … third-team All-America selection by the AP … ACC Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year … first-team All-ACC honoree … also captured first-team All-ACC selections from the AP and PFF … completed 22-of-28 passes for 351 yards and a touchdown and also added two rushing touchdowns at Wake Forest, the first game of 350-plus passing yards and multiple rushing touchdowns by a Clemson player since Tajh Boyd against NC State in 2012 … his passing touchdown at Wake Forest was the 67th of his career, moving him into the Top 10 in ACC history … set Clemson records for passing yards (351) and total offense (327) in a season opener in the performance against Wake Forest, earning ACC Quarterback of the Week and team offensive player of the game honors … completed 8-of-9 passes for 168 yards and three passing touchdowns and also added a two-yard rushing touchdown vs. The Citadel … completed 25-of-38 passes for 329 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions vs. Virginia, his ninth career 300-yard passing game … completed 29-of-41 passes, both season highs, for 292 yards with three touchdown passes and also rushed eight times for 34 yards with a rushing touchdown vs. No. 7 Miami, collecting ACC Co-Quarterback of the Week honors … completed 24-of-32 passes with career highs in passing yards (404) and passing touchdowns (five) at Georgia Tech, becoming the fourth Clemson quarterback to win 30 career games as a starter … his performance at Georgia Tech was his first career 400-yard passing game and the 10th by a Clemson quarterback all-time … his five-passing-touchdown output at Georgia Tech was the first by a Clemson quarterback since Deshaun Watson’s six-touchdown performance against South Carolina in 2016 … he threw an interception on his 12th pass attempt at Georgia Tech, ending a streak of 366 consecutive passes without an interception, the second-longest streak in ACC history and 13 pass attempts shy of matching the ACC record held by NC State’s Russell Wilson (379 from 2008-09); with 2020 being a leap year, Lawrence went 364 calendar days between interceptions dating to his last pick at Louisville on Oct. 19, 2019 … completed 22-of-27 passes for 391 yards with five touchdowns in the first half alone at Georgia Tech, setting school first-half records in both passing yards and passing touchdowns … earned ACC Quarterback of the Week and sharing team offensive player of the game honors for that performance at Georgia Tech … completed 27 of his career-high 43 passes for 289 yards with two touchdown passes vs. Syracuse … unavailable vs. Boston College and at No. 4 Notre Dame … completed 26-of-37 passes for 403 yards (one shy of his career high) with two touchdowns and no interceptions vs. Pitt, winning ACC Quarterback of the Week … completed 12-of-22 passes for 195 yards with one passing touchdown and added seven carries for 41 yards with a career-high-tying two rushing touchdowns at Virginia Tech, breaking the school record for wins as a starting quarterback shared previously by Rodney Williams, Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson (32 wins each) … was responsible for his 100th career touchdown in that game vs. Virginia Tech, joining Tajh Boyd (133), Lamar Jackson (119), Deshaun Watson (116) and Philip Rivers (112) as the only players in ACC history to be responsible for 100 career touchdowns … named MVP of ACC Championship Game vs. No. 2 Notre Dame after he completed 25-of-36 passes for 322 yards with two passing touchdowns and also rushed for a season-high 90 yards …
his 412 yards of total offense against Notre Dame were second-most in ACC Championship Game history, trailing only Deshaun Watson’s 420-yard total offense output against North Carolina in 2015, as he became the first starting quarterback ever to win three ACC Championship Games … completed 33-of-48 passes for 400 yards with two touchdown passes vs. No. 3 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, the third 400-yard passing performance in a bowl game in Clemson history, joining Deshaun Watson’s efforts against Alabama to conclude the 2015 and 2016 seasons … also rushed for a touchdown against the Buckeyes … with the performance against Ohio State, tied Tajh Boyd for the second-most 400-yard passing games in school history (three) and tied Deshaun Watson for the second-most 300-yard passing games in school history (13).
2019: One of 10 student-athletes across all sports to be named a finalist for the AAU’s James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually to the nation’s top amateur athlete … Manning Award finalist … Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist … Walter Camp Player of the Year semifinalist … first-team All-ACC selection … earned second straight All-ACC Academic selection … completed 268-of-407 passes for 3,665 yards with a career-high 36 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 842 snaps over 15 games (all starts) … also posted 103 carries for 563 yards and a career-high nine rushing touchdowns, as his 45 combined rushing and passing touchdowns tied Lamar Jackson for fifth-most in a season in ACC history … completed 13-23 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown and rushed three times for 24 yards and a touchdown vs. Georgia Tech … earned team offensive player of the week honors vs. No. 12 Texas A&M, completing 24-of-35 passes for 268 yards and a touchdown while also adding his second rushing touchdown of the season … completed 22-of-39 passes for a career-high 395 yards with three passing touchdowns at Syracuse while also matching his then-career high with 42 rushing yards to earn ACC Co-Quarterback of the Week … also rushed for a touchdown at Syracuse, joining Kelly Bryant (2017) as the only Clemson quarterbacks since 2000 to rush for a touchdown in each of the first three games of a season … prior to giving way to reserves early in the second quarter, completed 7-9 passes for 94 yards with two touchdowns vs. Charlotte … completed 18-of-30 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions and added career highs in rushing attempts (11) and rushing yards (45) and posted his fourth rushing touchdown of the year at North Carolina … completed 17-of-25 passes for 170 yards with three passing touchdowns and rushed six times for 40 yards with one rushing touchdown vs. Florida State prior to exiting the game with a 42-point lead in the middle of the third quarter … completed 20-of-29 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns at Louisville … completed 16-of-19 passes for 275 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a career-high 257.9 passer rating vs. Boston College to earn ACC Quarterback of the Week honors and share team offensive player of the game honors … completed 12-of-16 passes for 218 yards with three passing touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing four times for 33 yards with a rushing touchdown vs. Wofford … completed 20-of-27 passes for 276 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions and also rushed eight times for a career-high 59 yards with a rushing touchdown at NC State, becoming the first Clemson quarterback to throw three touchdown passes in five consecutive games … earned team offensive player of the game for his performance against the Wolfpack … shared team offensive player of the game honors vs. Wake Forest after completing 21-of-27 passes for 272 yards with a career-high-tying four touchdowns and no interceptions … completed 26-of-36 passes for 295 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions while also rushing eight times for a career-high 66 yards to share team offensive player of the game honors at South Carolina … set a single-game school record with 18 consecutive completions in that game, which also tied ACC single-game records held by Virginia’s Michael Rocco and North Carolina’s Mitch Trubisky … completed 16-of-22 passes vs. No. 22 Virginia for ACC Championship Game records of 302 yards and four touchdown passes while tying his single-season school record of consecutive pass attempts without an interception (169), sharing team offensive player of the game honors … earned Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP honors for his performance against Ohio State, completing 18-of-33 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns and leading Clemson with 16 carries for a career-high 107 yards and a touchdown … engineered the fifth-largest comeback in school history (16 points) against the Buckeyes, contributing all 94 yards (83 passing, 11 rushing) on a four-play game-winning drive that culminated with the game-winning touchdown pass to Travis Etienne with 1:49 remaining … completed 18-of-37 passes for 234 yards and rushed 10 times for 49 yards with a touchdown vs. No. 1 LSU … concluded a 25-game winning streak as a starter, tied for the sixth-longest winning streak by a starting quarterback at any point of a career, trailing streaks by Toledo’s Chuck Ealey (35 from 1969-71), USC’s Matt Leinart (34 from 2003-05), Miami’s Ken Dorsey (34 from 2000-02), Oklahoma’s Steve Davis (28 from 1973-75) and Winston (26 from 2013-14) while tying Florida State’s Chris Weinke (25 from 1998-2000).
2018: Manning Award finalist … Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist … freshman All-America selection by the FWAA, ESPN, USA Today, The Athletic and 247Sports … Touchdown Club of Columbus Archie Griffin Award recipient (Most Valuable Player) and Freshman of the Year … Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year … ACC Rookie of the Year … ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year … second-team All-ACC … AP ACC Newcomer of the Year … All-ACC Academic selection … completed 259-397 passes for 3,280 yards with 30 touchdowns and four interceptions in 768 snaps in 15 games (11 starts), while also contributing 60 carries for 177 yards and a touchdown on the ground … set school freshman records in passing yards, passing touchdowns and wins as a starting quarterback … finished the season having thrown 169 consecutive pass attempts without an interception, breaking Cullen Harper’s single-season school record of 143 in 2007 … completed 9-14 passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns in collegiate debut vs. Furman … went 5-9 passing for 93 yards including a 64-yard touchdown at Texas A&M … completed 12-19 passes for 194 yards with a touchdown vs. Georgia Southern … Threw for 176 yards on 13-18 passing with four touchdowns in earning ACC Rookie of the Week and team offensive player of the week honors at Georgia Tech … against the Yellow Jackets, became the first Clemson freshman to throw four touchdown passes since Watson on Sept. 27, 2014 (six vs. North Carolina) … made first career start vs. Syracuse but exited early with an injury after completing 10-15 passes for 93 yards … playing on his 19th birthday, completed 20-25 passes for 175 yards with two touchdown passes and no interceptions at Wake Forest … threw for a then-career-high 308 yards on 26-39 passing with one touchdown vs. No. 16 NC State … earned team offensive player of the week and ACC Rookie of the Week honors for the performance against the Wolfpack, as his 308 passing yards were the most by a Clemson passer since Kelly Bryant’s 316-yard day at Louisville in 2016 … completed 20-37 passes for a then-career-high 314 yards and tied his career high with four passing touchdowns at Florida State, earning ACC Co-Rookie of the Week and breaking Deshaun Watson’s single-season school records for passing touchdowns and passing yards by a true freshman … completed 8-12 passes for 59 yards with two touchdowns vs. Louisville and helped direct an offense that broke a 115-year-old school record with 11.6 yards per play … posted then-career highs in completions (29) and pass attempts (40) for 295 yards with one touchdown and one interception at No. 17 Boston College, team co-offensive player of week honors from the team, ACC Rookie of the Week honors from the conference, and the Leather Helmet Award as the game’s most valuable player from the Boston College Gridiron Club … against Boston College, broke Deshaun Watson’s school record for total offense by a true freshman (1,666 in 2014) and also recorded his first career rushing touchdown on a six-yard scoring rush in the third quarter … completed 21-38 passes for 251 yards with two touchdowns vs. Duke, breaking Kyle Parker’s school record for passing touchdowns by a freshman (redshirt or otherwise) with his 21st passing touchdown of the season … earned school-record fifth ACC Rookie of the Week honor vs. South Carolina, completing 27-36 passes for a then-career-high 393 yards with one touchdown … his 393 yards against the Gamecocks were the most by a Tiger in the rivalry’s 116-game history … completed 12-24 passes for 118 yards with two touchdowns against Pitt, breaking Kyle Parker’s record (2,526 in 2009) for passing yards by a freshman (first-year or redshirt) during the contest … named Cotton Bowl Most Outstanding Offensive Player after completing 27-39 passes for 327 yards with three touchdowns vs. Notre Dame … also earned Offensive MVP honors in the National Championship Game against No. 1 Alabama after completing 20-32 passes for 347 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, becoming the first freshman starting quarterback to lead his team to a national title since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985 … selected to Rivals’ All-Bowl Team for his performance in the College Football Playoff after becoming the first quarterback in 40 years to beat two Top-5 opponents by 25 or more points in a single season, according to ESPN, accomplishing the feat in the two Playoff contests.
Before Clemson: No. 1 player in the nation by 247Sports and Rivals and No. 2 player by ESPN … No. 1 quarterback in the nation by 247Sports and Rivals … No. 1 player in Georgia by 247Sports and Rivals and No. 2 player by ESPN … USA Today National Offensive Player-of-the-Year … U.S. Army All-American Game participant … U.S. Army Player-of-the-Year … Gatorade player-of-the-year in Georgia as a junior and senior … four-year starter at Cartersville High School; began starting in the third game of his freshman year and was 52-2 as starter in his career, including a 41-game winning streak and 14-2 record in the playoffs … led his team to four region titles and two state titles … had 13,908 passing yards and 161 touchdowns against 21 interceptions in his career … set state records for passing yards and passing touchdowns that were previously held by former Tiger Deshaun Watson (2014-16) … was 177-256 passing for 3,396 yards and 41 touchdowns against one interception in 12 games as a senior … had 200 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries as a senior … was 250-406 passing for 3,904 yards and 51 touchdowns against nine interceptions as a junior in leading his team to a 15-0 record and the state title … was 233-364 passing for 3,655 yards and 43 touchdowns against four interceptions as a sophomore in leading his team to a 15-0 record and the state title … had 235 yards and four touchdowns on 52 carries as a sophomore … was 187-310 passing for 3,053 yards and 26 touchdowns against seven interceptions as a freshman … competed in the Elite 11 finals … named an Elite 11 Quarterback … invited to Nike’s The Opening in 2017 … first-team all-state as a sophomore, junior and senior … coached by Joey King at Cartersville High School … former Tiger punter Kyle Tucker was an assistant coach at Cartersville High School … recruited by Brandon Streeter … enrolled at Clemson in January 2018.
Personal: Born Oct. 6, 1999 … earned degree in marketing in December 2020 in only three years … won the 2019 Tim Bourret Award, given to the player who best represents himself, his teammates and Clemson University in the media … two-time ACC Honor Roll selection (2018-19).
One Comment
I first heard about Trevor from my son in law,Rev. Mike Boatfield and his son ,Shannon, who lived in Cartersville. They were convinced he would be the outstanding QB at Clemson he has been. Being a 1955 grad of Clemson I have appreciated the fact that Trevor has always been a wonderful example in his religious , as well as his football and academic life. Thank You Trevor !