Can Trevor Lawnce somehow surpass the GOAT of Clemson football?
It’s a pretty widely-accepted statement that Deshaun Watson finished his career as the greatest Clemson football player of all-time because of what he was able to accomplish.
In just three years, Watson led the Clemson football program to two National Title appearances, finished as a Heisman finalist twice and was awarded the ACC Player of the Year award in 2015.
When we all thought it couldn’t get any better than Watson, though, a 5-star QB by the name of Trevor Lawrence committed to Clemson and gave Tiger fans even more dreams of what could happen in the future.
Lawrence came in and took over as the starter by Game 4 of his freshman season and led the Tigers to a National Championship with a perfect 15-0 record. He followed that up with an impressive 14-1 record and another National Title appearance during his sophomore season.
While Trevor Lawrence has been nothing short of spectacular, most Clemson football fans would also agree that he still has a solid ways to go before he surpasses Deshaun Watson or even approaches the greatness of the legacy that Watson left behind.
But it can be done.
If Trevor Lawrence is going to somehow surpass Deshaun Watson, here are three things that will absolutely have to happen for the talented quarterback.
3. Stats Matter
We all know that stats don’t matter, but in the case they do. Lawrence is going to have to put up some impressive numbers during his junior year to surpass Watson.
In particular, he needs to throw for at least 4,000 yards and more than 25 touchdowns. Why?
Watson finished his Clemson football career with 10,163 yards passing that included two 4,000-plus yard passing seasons (both hold the top two spots in school history for season passing yardage). He threw for 90 touchdowns and accounted for 12,097 yards of total offense during his career.
If Lawrence can reach those numbers of 4,000 and 25 touchdowns, he would pass Watson on the all-time career list in every statistical category for quarterbacks. It’s not all about stats, but you’ve got to have the numbers to enter the conversation.
2. Heisman Trophy Winner
The one thing Deshaun Watson wasn’t able to accomplish at Clemson- and we all know he was robbed- was win the Heisman Trophy.
Many Clemson fans maintain the stance that the Heisman Trophy is nothing more than a glorified popularity contest and that the award means nothing. While I agree that it’s just an arbitrary award and doesn’t mean anything in the long-term or the success of a program, it certainly would be a nice feather in the cap of Trevor Lawrence.
No player in the history of Clemson football has ever won the Heisman Trophy. If Lawrence can be the first- and then potentially become the first Tiger to be drafted No. 1 overall- it wouldn’t hurt his chances.
1. National Championship
Here’s the thing that has to happen and it’s pretty easy to understand.
We judge quarterbacks by their winning, for good or for bad. Lawrence has a 15-0 season with a National Championship and a 14-1 season with a National Championship appearance under his belt.
If he were to lead the Tigers to a third-straight National Title appearance and win the golden scepter, he would be the only QB in the history of the program to win two National Championships.
He would join a small group of College Football QBs all-time to have accomplished the feat and would’ve done it in just three years.
Can Trevor Lawrence somehow surpass Deshaun Watson? It remains to be seen, but these are the things we’ll be looking for heading into his final season with the Tigers.