NEW ORLEANS – Clemson Quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s legacy was completed even before the Tigers’ 49-28 defeat to Ohio State in the national semifinals of the school football playoffs.
With a national championship, a momentary appearance in the championship game and three playoff appearances to accompany his 90 landing passes, Lawrence will be one of the most complete school quarterbacks in recent history.
“Yes, it just ends without remorse, ” said Lawrence on Friday. ” Obviously tonight didn’t go well, but I know the way I prepared myself, the way this team prepared, and then all year round, the way we behaved. proud of it. I regret it. There’s not much I can return and change. “
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If there is an asterisk in a different brilliant educational career, it would be in the effects of his two trips to the Superdome, the place of his only defeats as a starter.
In both games, against Ohio State and last year’s championship game against LSU, Lawrence was outnumbered by an opposing quarterback who decimated Clemson’s defense. Joe Burrow of LSU released five touchdowns last January. While Lawrence pitched for 400 yards and two runs at the Sugar Bowl, his functionality was lost in Justin Fields’ six touchdowns and more than 400 yards overall offense.
While its functionality on Friday will go to Ohio State and the history of the playoffs, Fields’ functionality might not complicate one of the NFL’s predictable peaks of the off-season: Lawrence finished first overall in the Jacksonville Jaguars overall pick in this spring’s draft.
Lawrence has been tied for the top tier of the draft since the end of his first season and has been grounded there since Burrow passed through the Cincinnati Bengals last April, to the point where Jacksonville’s duel with the New York Jets for the NFL’s worst record provided one of the most attractive sub-plots of the 2020 season.
Having secured that choice after the Jets won two games in December, the Jaguars now have the chance to choose a long-time prospect over Peyton Manning and talented enough to change the fortunes of one of the league’s most sensitive under-performance players.
Lawrence’s arrival would mark a major milestone in the radical adjustments awaiting the Jaguars’ off-season. Jacksonville, 1-14 in the run-up to the season-ending against Indianapolis, has already fired general manager Dave Caldwell and is expected to fire the head coach. Doug Marrone.
Lawrence would promptly be the face of the franchise and bring stability and promise to a position that has gone through wild instability since 2011. The Jaguars have used six other beginner quarterbacks in the beyond 3 seasons, adding 3 this year, and have failed to grow. . a long-term option in more than a decade.
In total, only 3 Jacksonville starters in franchise history have more than 20 games and recorded a winning record.
For long-term coaches and general managers, the ability to build around Lawrence and give the franchise a new label makes the Jaguars a option. Three groups already have vacancies at any of the locations: Detroit, Atlanta, and Houston.
It is more common than ever for novice quarterbacks to start without delay and produce at a higher level. Before suffering an injury that ended the season in November, Burrow averaged 268. 8 yards consistent with passes consistent with the game with 18 total touchdowns for the Cincinnati Bengals. Justin Herbert, the Sixth Los Angeles Chargers overall team, pitched for 4,034 yards and an NFL rookie record of 28 touchdowns.
“I mean, Trevor Lawrence is a generational guy,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney. “He’s going to be a player for a long, long time. “