By: Neil Burnett
The New York Jets looked pretty miserable last night against Brett Rypien and the Denver Broncos, falling 37-28. Sam Darnold was selected 3rd overall in the 2018 NFL draft, having played his college ball at USC (the real one). Brett Rypien was signed in 2019 as an undrafted free agent by the Broncos. Denver is 1-3 so far in 2020 while the Jets are 0-4. Why do Clemson fans care?
Going to twitter for my routine peruse through social media, if it was mentioned once, it was mentioned 1000 times — “And with the number one pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the New York Jets select Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Clemson.” Of course, this is assuming that Lawrence will indeed leave Clemson after his junior season.
In an interview with Tom Rinaldi on ESPN’s “College Gameday,”, Lawrence said he wanted to play in 2020 instead of opting out due to Covid-19 concerns. He also said that he will be “graduating in December and planning on 2020 being his last year.” Why wouldn’t he? After all, he led Clemson to the perfect season in 2018 and a National Championship. He led them back again in 2019, only to lose to LSU and he is primed to lead the Tigers to another CFP appearance.
There is another faction of the “twitter experts” that think Lawrence will return to Clemson if the Jets have the first pick in the draft.It’s this latter group that doesn’t know Trevor Lawrence. This is the same group that lambasted Christian Wilkins and Clelin Ferrell for coming back for their senior year. The same group that blamed coaches for “somehow forcing” CJ Spiller to return to Clemson for his last year. The same group that blamed Coach Dabo Swinney for keeping millions of dollars out of Travis Etienne’s pockets. Football players have reasons they do things.Some actually do love to be at their schools, love the BMOC status, love their teammates. Other players go to college with the purpose of getting to the NFL. Well, they ALL want to go to the NFL but Dabo Swinney and the program at Clemson is built to encourage growth as both a player and as a complete man.
Trevor Lawrence is a leader, plain and simple, on and off the field. He graduates in December and will have the option of staying another year OR walking across that stage to get that diploma and head to the NFL. He won’t care who drafts him and he will most assuredly go in the first 5 picks. Lawrence will more than likely say his goodbyes to Clemson after the 2020 season and accept the next challenge. After all, as the saying goes, “A Clemson man needs no introduction.”
