Trevor Lawrence’s freshman season at Clemson stays one of many gold requirements for first-year school quarterbacks — and it’s no shock he’s now been named the highest true freshman of the 2000s.
Lawrence, who stepped into the beginning job in the course of the 2018 season, helped information the Tigers to a historic 15-0 file, marking the primary time within the fashionable period a group hit that milestone. As soon as he bought the keys to Clemson’s offense, the Tigers had been almost unstoppable on their path to a nationwide championship.
CBS Sports activities’ Chris Hummer factors out simply how spectacular Lawrence’s numbers had been throughout that title run. “One in every of solely two true freshman beginning quarterbacks to guide their group to a nationwide championship — Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway did it again in 1985 — Lawrence instantly lived as much as the recruiting hype,” Hummer wrote. Lawrence completed his debut season with 3,280 passing yards, an ACC-best 30 touchdowns in opposition to simply 4 picks, and a median of 8.3 yards per try. No different FBS true freshman quarterback since 2000 has thrown for at the least 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns whereas throwing fewer than 5 interceptions.
And he saved a few of his greatest work for the most important levels. In Clemson’s two School Soccer Playoff video games that 12 months — blowout wins over Notre Dame and Alabama — Lawrence mixed for 674 passing yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions, cementing his place in school soccer historical past.
Lawrence grabbed the beginning job from veteran Kelly Bryant by Clemson’s fifth sport of the 2018 season, after tossing 4 touchdowns off the bench in a dominant win at Georgia Tech. Although he bought knocked out of his first official begin in opposition to Syracuse, backup Chase Brice stepped in to safe the comeback win. After that scare, the Tigers steamrolled nearly everybody they confronted — placing up 40 or extra factors in seven of their last ten contests. That stretch included a 77-point outburst in opposition to Louisville and a 59-point demolition of Florida State in Tallahassee, handing the Seminoles the worst dwelling loss in program historical past.
Lawrence’s freshman marketing campaign didn’t simply dwell as much as the hype — it set an ordinary that also hasn’t been matched.
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