‘Nobody’s done it better’
Clemson’s Lawrence will leave lasting legacy on college football
The Dabo Swinney era at Clemson can be split into two parts: before Deshaun Watson and after.
Watson took Clemson “to the promised land,” said offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
The Tigers’ starting quarterback from 2014 to 2016 whose last college pass clinched the program’s first national championship since 1981, Watson crafted a legacy as one of the formative figures in Clemson history through “his will to win,” Swinney said.
“He kind of paved the way,” Swinney said. “I mean, that last drive against Alabama to win the national championship with one second, that’s the epitome of Deshaun Watson.”
Watson was the spark that altered the trajectory of a program previously defined by its own underachievement. That he willed Clemson to the top of college football is only part of his legacy; that the Tigers have remained there in the years since Watson’s final throw illustrates the rippling impact of his three seasons on campus.
As he heads into the final game or games of his own three-year turn as the Tigers’ starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence’s legacy is noticeably different – not necessarily better and certainly not worse, only far more global than being a game-changing figure in the history of the program.
“Nobody’s done it better,” said Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables. “We’ve been fortunate to have some great ones here. Nobody’s done it better than Trevor.”
When all is said and done, he’ll have a case for being counted among the best quarterbacks in the history of college football.
He was compared to Peyton Manning and anointed the best prospect in his draft class before the end of his freshman season, which he capped with his own jaw-dropping performance to lead Clemson past Alabama and win the national championship.
From New York to Jacksonville, Lawrence has represented the payoff for suffering NFL teams willing to grit through
miserable seasons for the chance at drafting a generational talent.
Few players have been forced to handle this sort of hype. Fewer still, if any, have met and then exceeded such expectations.
“He’s the first Trevor Lawrence, that’s the way I would describe him. He’s the first one,” Swinney said. “There will be a lot of people trying to live up to the standard that he set as a quarterback for a long time in this game.”
Lawrence has been Clemson’s starter for three straight Atlantic Coast Conference championships, earning all-conference honors in each of those years.
He was this season’s ACC player of the year and offensive player of the year.
Just one of the 24 conference games Lawrence has started and finished has been decided by fewer than 18 points.
In 2018, Lawrence became the second true freshman quarterback in history to win the national championship after throwing for a combined 674 yards and six touchdowns in playoff wins against Notre Dame and Alabama.
A year ago, Lawrence and Clemson reached the national championship game before losing to LSU, the lone loss of his career. (Lawrence’s 34 wins is a Clemson quarterback record.)
“He only has one loss as a starter, and it’s not just because he’s been on good teams,” said senior wide receiver Amari Rodgers. “It’s because of the competitor he is. He expects the best out of everybody while he’s expecting the best out of himself as well.
“He doesn’t like losing and you can tell.”
After gaining more than 400 yards of total offense in Clemson’s win this month against Notre Dame for another conference championship, Lawrence is the first quarterback to reach the playoffs three times. The Tigers will meet Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day (8 ET, ESPN) in a rematch of last season’s national semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl, won by Clemson.
With two more wins, Lawrence would become the eighth starting quarterback in the modern era to win multiple national championships.
He tossed 30 touchdown passes as a freshman. Thirty-six a season ago. Another 22 in 2020 across nine games after missing two starts following a positive test for COVID-19. Lawrence has thrown only 16 career interceptions across 1,090 attempts. He’s also influenced games as a runner, with his 16 rushing scores in the past two seasons tied for the most among Power Five quarterbacks.
A Heisman Trophy finalist as a junior, he’s just the second player in Clemson history to earn that honor, joining Watson.
“Ain’t nothing sneaky about Trev,” said senior running back Travis Etienne. “He’s the best player in the country. He’s not sneaking up on nobody.”
Lawrence’s actions during a tumultuous summer adds another wrinkle to his legacy, Elliott said.
“I think the biggest thing for Trevor, his legacy will be his record. More important, I think it’s going to be the impact he made on the game of college football with some of the stances that he took, in particular, this season.
“As time goes by, you know how it is, the legend is always going to grow. I’m actually looking forward to what that legacy is down the road.”
As Clemson, like other programs, steered through coronavirus protocols and the national reckoning over race and police brutality, Lawrence took on a rare leading role for a high-profile quarterback prospect: He was one of the organizers of a Black Lives Matter rally on campus following George Floyd’s death; raised funds for coronavirus relief, leading the NCAA to reverse a policy barring the use of name, image and likeness for crowdfunding; and was one of the loudest voices in the #WeWantToPlay movement.
“I haven’t necessarily thought about what my legacy would be,” Lawrence said. “I want people to speak to my character more than the type of player I am or was. I want to just be a good person, and I think that’s the number one goal for me.
“Obviously, the play and all that stuff, all the accolades, kind of will eventually speak for itself. That’s really not the main thing for me. It’s just being a good person and being a good teammate. I hope that is what people say about me when whenever I leave here.”