New York Post - USA (2020-10-25)

New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020

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and his physical prowess aside.
Lawrence’s greatest trait might be
his desire — his competitive fire.
It was evident in last year’s
semifinal playoff win over Ohio
State when he responded to a big
hit by rallying Clemson back from
a 16-point deficit. It was seen in
a scuffle during an intramural
basketball game, when Lawrence
didn’t like a hard screen being set
and pushed his opponent to the
floor. He detests losing.
“That’s the type of mentality
you want from your starting quar-
terback, not somebody cowering
in fear because you get hit a few
times,” Kanell said. “You want a
guy that responds in a big way and
that’s what Trevor Lawrence does.”
Kiper often measures that
intangible quality in players. It
was why he was so high on Bills
quarterback Josh Allen coming
out of Wyoming. It can often be
the difference between a prospect
flaming out or thriving at the next
level. How much does the player
want to be great? How hard will
he work to make it happen? After
his streak of 366 passes without
an interception was snapped last
Saturday against Georgia Tech,
Lawrence said his goal was not to
throw a pick all year.
“To determine greatness in the
NFL is how competitive you are,”
Kiper said. “Everybody who plays
college football is competitive. It’s
are you a six, seven, eight, nine
or a 10? Josh Allen is a 10. Trevor
is considered to be close to that
10-range. That for me is a big indi-
cation if a player has bust poten-
tial is how competitive and how
much you love the game.”

THE HICCUPS
The one red flag evaluators

raised — strength of schedule —

is out of his control. In his time at

Clemson, the ACC has been abys-

mal, lacking a true challenger to

the powerhouse Tigers. Lawrence

hasn’t lost a game in the league.

In games he’s started, Clemson is

24-0 against conference foes. Just

two of those contests have been

single-possession games and he

only played a quarter in one of

them. He often doesn’t play in the

fourth quarter.

He has essentially had four chal-

lenging games, and two of those

were blowout victories in the

playoff as a freshman. Last year

was a different story, needing to

rally Clemson past Ohio State in

the semifinals before falling short

in the title game against LSU, his

lone loss as a collegian. In both

games, Ohio State and LSU played

press coverage and were able to

pressure Lawrence, who complet-

ed just 51.4 percent of his passes in

those games.

“You can make the argument

Justin Fields outplayed him in that

playoff game, and [against] LSU

he didn’t look like he could figure

out what they were doing to him

defensively,” NFL Network ana-

lyst and former NFL scout Bucky

Brooks said. “I think that would be

a cause for concern.”

Of course, that LSU team went

undefeated in the rugged SEC and

had 14 players drafted, six off its

defense. The flip side is Clemson

was loaded, too.

“I don’t think you can excuse

it that way, ‘Oh, it was the LSU

defense.’ He didn’t play well

against LSU after playing pitch-

and-catch all year in the ACC

against outmanned opponents,”

Kiper said. “That’s the only red

flag. ... That’s why I really want to

see him this year [in the playoff].”

LSU was able to disguise cover-

ages to confuse Lawrence while

getting him out of his comfort

zone with different blitz packages,

former defensive coordinator and

current Baylor head coach Dave

Aranda said. It was similar to Ohio

State’s game plan, except LSU was

able to limit Lawrence to 49 rush-

ing yards.

Yet, even after the loss Lawrence

impressed those around him by

how he handled defeat. He was gra-

cious, crediting LSU while owning

his own subpar performance. ESPN

college football analyst Kirk Herb-

streit recalled a conversation the

two had in which Lawrence talked

about how much he learned from

that game, perhaps more than any

of his many wins and brilliant per-

formances. He bottled up the disap-

pointment and used it as motivation

in the offseason, and has come back

by starting off as if he was shot out

of a cannon.

“It just kind of tells you a little

bit about how he’s wired,” Herbst-

reit said.

A peek into his character was

revealed this spring during the

pandemic. Lawrence helped

organize a peaceful campus pro-

test in support of social justice,

has spoken up on social media

in support of teammates in the

Black Lives Matter movement

and was part of a national group

of college football players call-

ing out racial injustice and the

need for change on college cam-

puses. For a self-described “white

guy from a small town in Geor-

gia,” it was eye-opening, and for

teams considering him as the

future face of their organization,

reassuring. To Lawrence, it was

important he showed those close

to him their plight mattered to

him.

“I think the way I operate and

the way I try to live my life and

treat other people is just to treat

people how I want to be treated,”

he said over Zoom this week.

“I think that maturity is some-

thing that will make an owner,

a general manager and a head

coach feel very, very comfortable

handing him the keys to their

franchise,” Brooks added.

THE FUTURE

There are no locks. Lawrence

could get hurt. The Jets could win

a few games. Sam Darnold could

flash some potential upon return-

ing from injury that sways the

Jets. But as of right now, it seems

like the two are destined for each

other, the can’t-miss prospect and

the going-nowhere franchise.

There’s no reason to believe

Lawrence would disappoint.

He’s been under the micro-

scope since he was a high school

underclassman, ranked No. 1 in

his class as a sophomore — the

same spot he’s in five years later.

“To maintain that grade all the

way through,” Kiper said, “is some-

thing nobody does unless you’re

an Andrew Luck. John Elway did

it. Peyton Manning did it.”

Jets fans can only hope that

if this marriage does happen,

it has a similar impact on the

franchise as that coach did

following the brutal 1996

season. Upon his arrival,

Parcells changed every-

thing about the Jets. Per-

haps Lawrence could do

the same.

— Additional reporting

by Ryan Dunleavy

[email protected]

“HE CAN DO EVERYTHING THAT

EVERYONE ELSE CAN DO AT A HIGHER LEVEL

— AND HE’S A CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER.”

— AFC SCOUT

ON TREVOR

LAWRENCE

TREVOR

BY THE

NUMBERS

35-1

Record as starter

at Clemson

2

Championship

appearances in his first

two seasons, with one title

12

Games with three

or more TD passes

in past 14 regular-season

games

8-0

TD-INT rate in four

College Football

Playoff games

83-14

Career

TD-INT rate

14

Rushing TDs in 35

career games

1st

Pass completion

percentage in

ACC in 2019 (65.8) and this

season (70.6)

1st

Passing yards in

ACC in 2019 (3,665)

and this season (1,833)

1st

Passing yards per

attempt in ACC in

2018 (8.3), 2019 (9.0) and this

season (9.6)

1st

Passing TDs in ACC

in 2018 (30) and

this season (17) — was No. 2

in 2019 (36)

1st

Passing efficiency

rating in ACC 2018-

20 (157.6, 166.7, 192.7) and

also No. 1

all-time

(165.3)

AP