While many analysts continue to discredit Trevor Lawrence, here are five things that separate him from the other CFB Playoff quarterbacks.
Trevor Lawrence didn’t get off to the best start, statistically speaking. He was throwing a lot of interceptions and missing on some routine passes early on in the season.
Despite the early adversity, Lawrence pressed on and got better as a result.
Since the first quarter of the Louisville game, Lawrence has held the highest QB rating in the nation and has completed 73.9 percent of his passing attempts for 1,826 yards and 23 touchdowns to no interceptions.
Here are five things that separate Trevor Lawrence from the rest of the quarterbacks in the CFB Playoff field.
5. He’s the only QB that hasn’t transferred
Before we get into talent analysis, let’s just take a second to realize that Trevor Lawrence is the only CFB Playoff quarterback that’s not a transfer.
Lawrence earned the starting position four games into his freshman season in 2018 and never looked back. The other quarterbacks in this group haven’t necessarily had the same experience.
Jalen Hurts started for Alabama as a freshman in 2016 and led the Crimson Tide to a National Championship appearance, however Alabama fell short to a Deshaun Watson-led Clemson team in a 35-31 loss.
The next season, Hurts led the Crimson Tide to a 13-1 season and they beat Clemson in the Sugar Bowl. However, he was replaced by freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa in the second half of the National Championship against Georgia when Tagovailoa led Alabama on a come-from-behind victory against the Bulldogs. Hurts played sparingly as Tagovailoa’s backup during his junior season before eventually transferring to Oklahoma.
Ohio State QB Justin Fields has a much different story. Fields was a 5-star QB product when he committed to Georgia, but was unable to beat out Jake Fromm for the position. The most notable play for him as a Bulldog came in the SEC Championship game last season when Kirby Smart elected to use him on a fake punt that went horribly wrong. Fields transferred to Ohio State and, just like Hurts, finished as a Heisman finalist.
Joe Burrow redshirted his first season at Ohio State and then spent two years behind JT Barrett before electing to transfer to LSU. He was named the starter for the Tigers in 2018, but didn’t have near the year last season that he would have this season, culminating in a Heisman Trophy.
All three of these quarterbacks have stories of ‘redemption’ in many ways, but it’s only Trevor Lawrence who was able to win out the QB position from the start and maintain it over the course of his career.
4. He’s been continuously ignored
Despite the fact that Trevor Lawrence has the highest QB rating in the country during the month of November, no analyst is giving him any respect.
The AP All-American Team had three quarterbacks: Joe Burrow, Justin Fields and Jalen Hurts.
There was no Trevor Lawrence to be seen.
While all three of the CFB Playoff quarterbacks made a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation, Lawrence was sitting at home. The other quarterbacks have been hyped up all season long. The same can’t be said about Lawrence
Though he’s clearly the most skilled quarterback in the nation, Lawrence has been continuously overlooked because of his early season struggles and because of Clemson’s perceived weak schedule.
3. Lawrence is an NFL scout’s dream
You can say whatever you want to about the four CFB Playoff quarterbacks, but any NFL scout with an eye for talent is going to tell you that Trevor Lawrence is the best prospect of the four.
There are fans who legitimately think that Jalen Hurts is a better passer than Lawrence because he put up better numbers.
Look, it’s not about the numbers.
Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields are all great quarterbacks. They will all likely be taken in the first round, and it’s expected that Burrow could be a top-3 pick in this coming year’s draft.
That being said, Trevor Lawrence is just a different breed.
If an NFL scout dreamed up the perfect quarterback prospect, it would be Lawrence. He’s got the right height, body type. He has the strongest arm in the country. He is athletic and can evade the pocket and make plays with his legs. He has a high football IQ.
Burrow, Hurts and Fields are all nice prospects and may turn into elite NFL quarterbacks, but Trevor Lawrence is an NFL scout’s dream.
2. CFB Playoff Experience
Other than Jalen Hurts, Lawrence is the only quarterback with CFB Playoff experience, but we’re going to take it one step further.
Trevor Lawrence is the only quarterback in the CFB Playoff field to lead his team to a National Championship.
Hurts competed in two CFB Playoffs and made it to the National Championship in both instances. However, he lost to Clemson in 2016 and was replaced by Tua Tagovailoa in 2017. Had he not come out of the game, the Crimson Tide would’ve lost to Georgia.
Burrow and Fields don’t have any starting QB experience in a CFB Playoff setting and that will certainly be an advantage for Trevor Lawrence that no one is talking about.
1. He’s never lost
Every single quarterback in this field has experienced what it feels like to lose at the collegiate level, except Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence is an impressive 25-0 as the full-time starter for Clemson football and he just has done a great job of leading the Tigers to victory-after-victory.
It certainly stands to reason that Clemson might lose a game at some point in Lawrence’s career, but it’s tough to pick against him until it happens.
Lawrence is a winner and that is defined through his impressive streak. The Tigers are on a 28-game winning streak and it’s largely because of Lawrence’s performances.
You can give away all the individual accolades you want to, but Trevor Lawrence is focused on winning football games. That’s something he has done better than any quarterback in the nation to this point.