Clemson Football: Trevor Lawrence vs. Deshaun Watson as a freshman

How does Trevor Lawrence compare to Deshaun Watson as a freshman quarterback for Clemson football? Well, their stats are eerily similar.

Clemson football freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence has been continually getting better over the past few weeks.

The Tigers are currently undefeated and are eyeing a berth in the College Football Playoff.

With that being said, we received a question from one of our readers the other day and it read like this: “How does Trevor Lawrence compare to Deshaun Watson as a freshman?”

I thought it was a very interesting question. So, today, we’ll dive into that question a bit by first looking at stats.

For Watson, we’re going to give you statistics from the first seven games he played. You have to keep in mind, though, that he played the first six games and then missed the next three before playing against Georgia Tech and getting injured again. That means he didn’t have quite the same amount of playing time as Trevor Lawrence, but the two are certainly pretty close.

But, here’s how Trevor Lawrence compares with a pure seven-game look between him and Deshaun Watson.

Clemson Football Passing Stats (Watson, Lawrence through seven games):

Completion Percentage: Deshaun Watson 66.9 percent; Trevor Lawrence 68.3 percent.

Passing Yards: Deshaun Watson 955; Trevor Lawrence 1,176.

Yards Per Attempt: Deshaun Watson 8.09; Trevor Lawrence 8.46.

Passing Touchdowns: Deshaun Watson 12; Trevor Lawrence 12.

Interceptions: Deshaun Watson 2; Trevor Lawrence 2.

QB Rating: Deshaun Watson 174.3; Trevor Lawrence 165.0

Analysis:

To me, the best stats to judge a quarterback on are their TD-INT ratios and their yards per attempt. The two quarterbacks were tied in the regard of touchdowns to interceptions with 12 to 2 and Lawrence (8.46) actually is a bit ahead of Watson (8.09) in yards per attempt.

In the end, though, you can’t really compare the two quarterbacks.

They are two completely different players.

I love what both guys bring to their teams. Deshaun Watson was the best to ever play at Clemson. Trevor Lawrence is right there chasing him and has a chance to be one of the greatest when it’s all said and done.

But, the truth is only time will tell.

We all know how Watson’s story for Clemson football ended. Will Trevor Lawrence be able to replicate that kind of winning? While I love the reader’s question, I just truly believe it’s too big of a question to answer.

But, there’s one thing that I can say looking at the stats and what we’ve seen from Lawrence so far: He is continuing to get better and has the talent to be every bit as good as Deshaun Watson. What he does and how far he goes, though, will be up to him.