WATCH: Trevor Lawrence throws first professional touchdown pass
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence made a name for himself as a college football star while at Clemson. He earned a selection as the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, Lawrence has thrown his first professional touchdown in Jacksonville’s preseason finale against the Dallas Cowboys.
Lawrence completed all three of his passes for 62 yards on the Jaguars’ opening offensive drive. The drive ended on Lawrence’s first professional touchdown, an 18-yard pass to Pharoh Cooper. Lawrence had a pump fake and dropped a great throw down the sideline for the score.
Lawrence is viewed as a generational talent at quarterback
He led the Clemson Tigers to a national championship as a freshman in 2018. Lawrence went on to throw for 10,098 yards and 90 touchdowns in his collegiate career, adding 943 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. He posted a 34-2 record as Clemson’s starter. In addition to leading Clemson to a national championship in 2018, the Tigers returned to the championship game last season. Lawrence was seventh in Heisman voting in 2019 before finishing as the Heisman runner-up last season.
The Jaguars are hoping that Lawrence can live up to his potential as a quarterback and become the new face of their franchise. Jacksonville has been searching for a franchise quarterback for a long time. Thirteen different players have started multiple games at quarterback for Jacksonville. Since 2010, Blake Bortles is the only quarterback to start all 16 games in a season. Last season, Gardner Minshew, Mike Glennon and Jake Luton all started multiple games for the Jaguars.
Lawrence was set to enter his rookie season alongside former Clemson teammate Travis Etienne. Etienne is now expected to miss the season, though he still figures to be part of Jacksonville’s offense moving forward. In addition to Lawrence and Etienne, Jacksonville is building a young offensive core around running back James Robinson and wide receivers DJ Chark, Marvin Jones Jr. and Laviska Shenault.
Urban Meyer is also entering his first season as Jacksonville’s head coach. Meyer has posted a 187-32 career record as a college football head coach. He won 12 bowl games, including three championships. With a young quarterback in Lawrence taking control of a team that has not seen success in recent years, a lot of pressure will be on Meyer to allow his team to reach its true potential.