Trevor Lawrence recalls 'blur' of freshman season at Clemson

Trevor Lawrence’s path to becoming Clemson’s starting quarterback in Week 5 of the 2018 season ahead of a game against Syracuse started back in spring of that year. Coming in as a true freshman, Lawrence felt the freedom to just cut it loose.

But when you’re one of the highest rated high school quarterback prospects ever, coaches and teammates start to take notice pretty quick. From there, it was off to the races on a whirlwind, undefeated national championship season.

“It was crazy, it really was. My whole freshman year was a blur,” Lawrence said on a recent episode of “The Pivot” podcast.

Entering a quarterback room with returning starter Kelly Bryant and two other solid quarterbacks in Hunter Johnson and Chase Brice, Lawrence knew he’d start out in the mix but lower down the depth chart.

In a way, it was freeing to know there was no weight of expectations on him that spring.

“The odds are kind of stacked against me at that point,” Lawrence said, “but I’m just trying to come in and that point you can kind of play free because I’m the freshman that’s here early in spring ball. So I’m just ripping it. And then that kind of obviously caught some eyes of the different, some of the receivers, the coaches, all those guys.”

His strong play carried into fall camp and the gap to Bryant continued to close and close. Eventually, it got to the point where the pair were neck-and-neck as Clemson closed in on Week 1.

Bryant was named the Week 1 starter by head coach Dabo Swinney. Lawrence, ultimately, understands he didn’t do enough to come out of camp the starter as a true freshman. It might not have really been possible.

I’m like, ‘I’m kind of closing the gap, now.’ And then he was still the starter, though. It was too tight, really. It wasn’t like they were going to let the freshman just it off of camp. So, going into the season all that happens and then — so I came in the Georgia Tech game and I think threw three or four touchdowns, we ended up beating them pretty good,” Lawrence said of a 49-21 thrashing of the Yellowjackets.

That performance earned Lawrence the starting nod ahead of a Week 5 game against Syracuse, who would travel to Clemson a year removed from upsetting the Tigers in the Carrier Dome.

Bryant, to preserve his final year of eligibility, left the team and transferred having appeared in just four games.

Thus, when Lawrence was knocked out early against Syracuse when safety Evan Foster delivered a shoulder to his head, it fell to Brice — and star running back Travis Etienne — to claw back a 27-23 victory.

Clemson went on to go undefeated and win the national title that season with Lawrence helming the offense. But Lawrence knows a loss to Syracuse could’ve change the trajectory. The Orange finished 9-3 in the regular season with losses to Clemson, Pitt and Notre Dame. Had Syracuse beaten Clemson and no other results change, the Orange would’ve gone to the ACC title game over the Tigers.

Lawrence thinks it could’ve cost Clemson the chance to even compete for a national title.

“So if they would’ve beat us, we’ve wouldn’t have even gone to the national championship. We wouldn’t have even gone to the playoffs because they would’ve won the ACC. So that’s just a little side note,” Lawrence said.

Just a little side note on a spectacular blur of a freshman season.