Trevor Lawrence (American football)


Trevor Lawrence is a collegiate American football quarterback for the Clemson Tigers. Lawrence attended and played football for Cartersville High School in Georgia, where he was considered to be among the best high school quarterback prospects of all time. Lawrence won the starting job at Clemson midway through his freshman season, and led the Tigers to an undefeated season and a National Championship Game victory over Alabama. In his sophomore season, he again led Clemson to an undefeated regular season, but the team was defeated by LSU in the national championship.

Early years

Trevor Lawrence was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on October 6, 1999. He later attended Cartersville High School in Cartersville, Georgia, where he played football and basketball. As a junior in 2016, he was The Atlanta Journal-Constitution player of the year after completing 250 of 406 passes for 3,904 yards and 51 touchdowns. As a sophomore, he passed for 3,655 yards and 43 touchdowns and as a freshman had 3,042 yards and 26 touchdowns.
From his sophomore year to his senior year, Lawrence led the Purple Hurricanes to 41 straight victories, winning two state championships and four region titles while also receiving numerous national high school player of the year honors. In 2017, Lawrence broke the Georgia state record for passing yards and passing touchdowns, which were previously held by Deshaun Watson of Gainesville, who also played for Clemson.
Lawrence was a five-star recruit who was regarded as one of the best high school quarterback prospects of all time. On December 16, 2016, he committed to Clemson University to play college football.

College career

2018

Lawrence started his freshman season behind Kelly Bryant on Clemson's depth chart, but was given equal playing time in the season's first games. Head coach Dabo Swinney named Lawrence the new starter after four games, after which Bryant announced his intention to transfer schools. Lawrence led Clemson to an undefeated regular season, a 42–10 victory over Pittsburgh in the ACC Championship Game, and a bid to play in the College Football Playoff. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and defeated No. 3 Notre Dame, 30–3, in the 2018 Cotton Bowl Classic. They advanced to the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship game, where they defeated Alabama, 44–16, handing the Crimson Tide their worst loss of the Nick Saban era. Lawrence was named Offensive MVP of the game and became the first true freshman quarterback to start for a national champion since Jamelle Holieway in 1985 for Oklahoma.
Lawrence threw for 3,280 passing yards and 30 touchdowns on the season, and was awarded the National Freshman of the Year and Archie Griffin Award by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. He was also awarded ACC Rookie of the Year honors.

2019

Returning for his sophomore year with the Tigers, Lawrence was named preseason ACC Player of the Year and was considered a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Relatively inconsistent play in the early part of the season all but dropped Lawrence from the Heisman Trophy race, but he led FBS in passer rating over the final half of the regular season and ended at seventh in Heisman Trophy voting. Lawrence helped lead Clemson to an undefeated regular season and an ACC Championship Game victory over Virginia, which gave them the No. 3 ranking in the final College Football Playoff rankings. In the 2019 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State, he had 259 passing yards and two touchdowns to go along with 16 rushes for 107 yards and a touchdown in the 29–23 victory that brought them to the national championship game for the second consecutive year. Lawrence lost the first game of his career in the CFP Championship Game against LSU, as Clemson snapped its 29 game winning streak and lost 42–25. Lawrence posted the worst passer rating of his career as he only completed 18 of 37 passes for 234 yards and zero passing touchdowns in the game.

Statistics

Personal life

Lawrence is the second son of Jeremy and Amanda Lawrence. Lawrence has an older brother named Chase and a younger sister named Olivia. Lawrence is a Christian and enjoys fishing. He is also noted for his long blonde hair.