The Clemson football team will be leaning heavily on QB Trevor Lawrence in 2020. Here are five areas he can improve during the offseason.
Trevor Lawrence will enter the 2020 Clemson football season as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy and a unanimous preseason All-American.
Lawrence is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and is a huge reason why Clemson football is the odds favorite to get back to the National Championship game.
Lawrence’s talent is unparalleled, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement in any player.
Here are five areas that Trevor Lawrence can improve upon heading into the 2020 offseason for Clemson football.
5. Accuracy on the deep ball
We’ll start with Lawrence’s accuracy on the deep ball.
He found a target in Tee Higgins last season where he relied heavily upon putting the ball up-for-grabs and just letting Higgins go and make a play.
As we head into 2020, I’d like to see Lawrence show a little more accuracy on the deep ball. He has all the arm strength in the world, it’s just about perfecting timing and getting those reps in.
He has done a solid job in the deep passing game, but there’s definitely room for improvement, especially off that play-action pass.
4. Learning to slide
Here’s an area all of Clemson football nation would like to see Lawrence improve upon a little bit.
The one thing that always scares me when Lawrence takes off running is when he takes a big shot. In many cases, he could’ve slid to the ground and avoided contact altogether.
In some cases, Lawrence has tried to slide and it just looked awkward, creating more contact than maybe he would’ve had to begin with.
As Lawrence heads into his junior season, he can certainly stand to get better in the area of knowing when to slide and when to selectively lower his shoulder for extra yardage.
3. Using the middle of the field
This isn’t necessarily Lawrence’s fault.
The play-calling at times got away from routes across the middle of the field. In 2020, I’d like to see Lawrence use the middle of the field a little more and get away a bit from throwing as many sideline fades.
The Tigers have the wide receiver talent to run complex routes- especially with the addition of TE Braden Galloway– and I’d really like to see Lawrence have more options and use those across the middle of the field, one of his strengths.
2. Leadership
This is Trevor Lawrence’s final year with the Clemson football program, barring something unforeseen.
He’s going to be relied upon more so than ever before to be a leader and captain of that offense.
Just as we saw Deshaun Watson really take command of the offense and become basically another coach on the field during his junior season, I expect to see something of the same with Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence is now an upperclassman. It’s not just about making plays on the field, but making a positive impact off-the-field through his leadership and mentorship.
1. Settle down, see it through
Too many times last season we saw Lawrence’s arm strength on display in a bad way.
He’s extremely talented, but there were times where he was just putting too much on the ball before settling into a game. One of the most prominent examples came in the National Championship game against LSU where Lawrence just couldn’t find the touch on the ball.
Look, Lawrence is the most talented quarterback in the nation. There’s a reason why he’s expected to be the No. 1 overall pick.
All he needs to do is settle in and be confident in his arm and his receivers.
Look for Trevor Lawrence to make a major jump in the 2020 season as he prepares to increase his draft stock and leave a major legacy with the Clemson football program.