The 2020 Clemson football team will be well represented when the end of the season’s awards are handed out.
There is no doubt that the 2020 Clemson football team will be the best in program history and they will have the best players at several positions which means the Tigers will be very busy trying to balance another trip to the College Football Playoffs with the end of the season awards circuit.
While no one expects Clemson to win every single end of the year award, there will be several Tigers that will be finalists for major awards come December.
In the past several years we have seen players like Deshaun Watson win awards such as the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, Davey O’Brien Award (twice), and Manning Award (twice). Two years ago Hunter Renfrow was named the winner of the Burlsworth Award which is given to the best player who started his career as a walk-on, Christian Wilkins was named the winner of the William V. Campbell Trophy aka the “Academic Heisman” and last year former linebacker Isaiah Simmons won the Butkus Award for the best linebacker.
While these are just the players that will be finalists for awards, coaches like Todd Bates and Brandon Streeter will be among those up for the Broyles Award which goes to the nation’s best assistant coach and of course head coach Dabo Swinney will be a finalist for all of the national coach of the year awards.
What awards could 2020 Clemson football players bring home, let’s take a look at who could add extra hardware at the end of the year.
Trevor Lawrence is entering his third year as the Tigers quarterback; it seems like it was just yesterday the heralded quarterback was enrolling early and yet he will graduate in December.
There is no doubt that Lawrence is the best quarterback in the country, regardless of what Ohio State fans will tell you, and he will be a finalist for every major quarterback award in December.
The awards that he will be a finalist for:
- Davey O’Brien Award
- Walter Camp Award
- Manning Award
- Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
- Heisman Trophy
Like Deshaun Watson before him, Lawrence will win the O’Brien, Manning and Unitas Award. I also think that he will end up winning the Walter Camp Award which goes to the best player in the country. While he will be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, he will not win the award – I will explain why later.
The Tigers getting back Travis Etienne for his senior year is something that no one could have predicted; it just goes to show you how much players love being in Tiger town, playing for the paw and how much graduating really means to these young men.
Travis will be one of the finalists for the Doak Walker Award which is awarded to the nation’s best running back. He will have some really good competition for this award as Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard who was a 2019 finalist returns to Stillwater for 2020 and Najee Harris at Alabama will put up eye-popping numbers as well.
Just like Ohio State in 2019, Clemson will have two finalists for the Heisman Trophy as Travis Etienne will join Trevor Lawrence in New York City for the presentation and this is why neither of them will win.
They will be among the Top 4 vote-getters but will take votes away from each other and unfortunately, this means that someone else to win the award.
Justyn Ross, the third-year Clemson football wide receiver will have a big year for the Tigers.
Yes, he is having surgery in a few days after sustaining what was called a “neck stinger” during the Tigers abbreviated spring practice, but no one around the program seems worried.
There is no doubt that Ross is the most talented receiver in the country, he just has to decide to be consistent in 2020 and if he does that, he will run away with the Biletnikoff Award, which is awarded to the nation’s best receiver.
We published an over/under piece on Ross last week and we expect him to have more than 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns for an undefeated Clemson team.
The 2020 Clemson football receiver group will be among the best in the nation with Frank Ladson Jr. Joseph Ngata and Amari Rodgers joining Justyn Ross. Seniors Cornell Powell and Will Swinney round out the group will help provide leadership to some of the elite young talents joining them.
Tyler Davis was the first true freshman to start for the Clemson football program at defensive tackle since Jeff Mills in 1974 and he did not disappoint.
Davis finished his freshman year with 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. He was a force in the national title game against LSU and will build off of that success.
Expect Davis to be a finalist for the Outland Trophy Award which is presented to the nation’s best interior lineman on either side of the ball. I don’t expect Davis to win this award as a sophomore but he will among the finalists in 2020.
Davis will have a lot of help on the defensive line in 2020 with Justin Foster, K.J. Henry, Nyles Pickney, Darnell Jeffries, Jordan Williams, Xavier Thomas, and Justin Mascoll all returning. When you add in true freshman Brian Bresee and Myles Murphy, this will be the deepest and most talented defensive line that Clemson football has ever had.