Trevor Lawrence reveals why he decided to play college football for Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Trevor Lawrence’s college career at Clemson was one for the history books and he couldn’t see himself anywhere else.
The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback now has Super Bowl aspirations at this point after Year 2, but looked back at Clemson with former teammate Darien Rencher. Lawrence chose Clemson over Georgia during his recruiting process, citing a special connection with head coach Dabo Swinney.
Lawrence explained why Clemson was ultimately the school for him over the Bulldogs.
“I was not a very mature (kid during) junior and senior in high school, I think I committed in my junior year,” Lawrence said on The Journey. “My parents, coach Swinney, like a mixture of everything. Marissa. Just kind of everything had its own hand in steering me in that direction and then myself like obviously I ended up coming to that conclusion (to go to Clemson). I made that decision. That’s what I wanted to do. I was looking at Clemson and Georgia and I really did love Georgia.
“I wasn’t a Georgia fan, but I grew up in Georgia. It’s close to home. They recruited me super hard, them and Clemson. I loved Georgia, loved the campus. Obviously, what they’re doing the program you see what it is now, I saw it (before) and knew what they were building. But just something about the people was infectious at Clemson.”
Lawrence opened up about his relationship with Swinney while at Clemson.
“And Coach Swinney is super genuine,” Lawrence said. “I think when you sit down and talk with him you feel that he’s definitely (great). People have their own opinions but everyone that’s played for him, everyone can attest to how genuine of a person he is and he really does care about you. I think that came through immediately to myself, to my family, the way he treated us …
“It’s a culture and he’s put people around him and around the players that do things the right way that treat people right. And like Coach Streeter, you know, Coach Elliot when he was there, there’s so many other people, but those are the two main ones in my career, and they’re the same way like they’re genuine, they want to help you.”
Lawrence mentioned how Clemson molded him to be the best man and quarterback going into the NFL.
“They care about you as a person more than a player,” Lawrence said. “Obviously at the end of the day, you’re gonna kind of make your own path yourself, but they really do care about you. I think I saw that especially at the end. Not to say that Georgia coaches didn’t because they’ve obviously done a great job, but I just felt that connection more with the people at Clemson.”