“Trevo-Lution”

By Gary McDaniel

When Clemson initially got the verbal commitment of Trevor Lawrence during his Junior year at Cartersville High School tucked in the foothills of North Georgia just off I-75 north of Atlanta… The Tigers and their fans knew that Lawrence was a little more than a special talent. A young man that just broke another former Clemson’s son and fellow Peach State native Deshaun Watson’s Georgia state passing records. Eye brows around these parts really started to rise with the anticipation of the long haired rockstar looking kid to show up on campus and carry on the football legacy left by Watson.

Lawrence showed up to Clemson in January of 2018 and quickly went to work acclimating to the daily grind of a collegiate athletes life. As you can imagine, your day to day schedule as a regular student can be challenging enough. Now, throw in the excess that is being an athlete when it comes to aloting your time each and every day…and you can see the challenge these student-athletes face each day.

On the football side of things, Lawrence arrived to an incumbent quarterback with a 12-2 starting record, local ties, and a guy who sat behind Watson and patiently waited his turn. The competition to come would play out on the practice fields and into the fall camp. As Kelly Bryant was named starter yet again as the 2018 season opened. But it was predetermined that Lawrence would see significant action often and early in early season games. Point in case, Texas A&M where under some incredibly hostile conditions the Tigers did not hesitate to throw the freshman in there. Who then stepped on the turf and answered with a touchdown pass on his very first play in an away uniform, stunning the sold out A&M crowd into immediate silence. Lawrence showed the poise and calm demeanor he is now growing famous for with media and fans alike.

Trevor left north Georgia with a story book career that led to his #1 over all rating as the top player in the nation. Lawrence left home with a 52-2 record as a four year starter at Cartersville HS. Along with the wins add to that 13,908 passing yards and 161 touchdown passes and you can see right there in the numbers just why he was so well thought of coming out of high school.. Lawrence was named to almost every all american squad and nominated to the Elite 11 combine. The top QB’s are invited and analized and coached by the nation’s top QB evaluators and mentors.

I reached out to Brian Stumph.. one of the Elite Eleven & Nike Opening analyst/coaches… and one of the top QB Evaluators sought out by many coaches both College and NFL for his skills when evaluating QB’s of all ages. I asked Brian to speak on Trevor and his thoughts from the first time he saw him on film to now. And describe what he represents and also his needs as far as development. Here is what one of the top QB evaluators in the nation had to say about “TL16”.

“I think the first thing that always stood out about Trevor was his natural passing ability and clean stroke. 10 years ago everyone wanted 6’5” and the big pocket passer. His physical stature always caught everyone’s attention since he was a rising freshman but when you saw him throw and how natural and clean he was, that’s when you thought man this kid has a chance.

From the development standpoint I think the biggest thing is he’s been brought up the right way. His parents Jeremy and Amanda, his high school coach Joey King at Cartersville, and Trevor himself, no one ever bought into the hype that came after his freshman year. For everything that’s been put in front of him and thrown at him since then, he’s remained a humble and thoughtful kid with a great work ethic who is much more focused on growth than hype, and that’s a testament to his community that raised him and Trevor himself in terms of what kind of person he is.

From areas of improvement, and can say this for almost all young QBs, being able to get to No. 2 when No. 1 is covered, taking more ownership of the offense now that he’s established as the guy and will get all the offseason reps etc. – and probably making better decisions when he pulls the ball down, doesn’t need to take anymore hits like he did last year against Syracuse. Last year he really emerged as the season went on, I’d say this year you’d look for him to be in full command of that offense and have it run through him.”

Lawrence was inserted as the starter after his performance against Georgia Tech last season. And with the exception that was the Syracuse game, still managed to navigate the rest of the 2018 ACC and Regular season with the ease of a savvied veteran quarterback, even though he was barely 19 year of age. Finishing the year with a TD/INT Ratio of 30:4 and a Completion of 65.2% along with yardage that amounted to 3,280 for the 2018 year .. All that and the performance that was the National Title game has rendered the lanky 6’5 220 lb kid as the leader on almost everyone’s Heisman list’. You can’t go to a magazine rack and not see Trevor on numerous sports mag covers, turn on college football shows TV, radio or online and the Tiger signal caller is usually one of the first topics in queue for discussion. Named unanimous ACC preseason Player of the Year by the media at the ACC Media Days just adds to the hype train that started way back in the 9th grade for this true one of kind talent.

We all stay tuned for “Chapter 2” of the “Trevolution” and if the sophomore signal caller can deliver a repeat performance on the field in 2019 and lead his team to repeat as ACC and National Champions.

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