Clemson Football: Etienne takes over as featured back as Jags make trade

Former Clemson football great Travis Etienne’s professional career was put on pause before it ever began as he sat out what was supposed to be his rookie season in 2021 with a Lisfranc injury.

In his stead, veteran James Robinson got 164 carries, averaging a respectable 4.7 yards per carry and scoring 8 touchdowns.

This season, early on, Robinson got the bulk of the carries, but Etienne saw time with 4 carries in game one, 9 in week two and 13 in week three.

If you watched the Jaguars enough, you could see what was coming.  Etienne was eventually going to take over as the starter and the primary back lining up behind Trevor Lawrence as the Jags continue to rebuild.

Over the last three games Etienne has had double-digit carries in each and averaged 7.1, 8.6 and 8.1 yards per carry respectively, with runs of 30, 48 and 49 yards over those three games and also catching 12 passes over those three games.

Etienne had arrived.

So much so that the Jaguars traded Robinson to the New York Jets earlier this week for a conditional sixth-round pick that could turn into a fifth-rounder if Robinson reaches 600 yards rushing on the season.

It took Etienne 7 games to oust a former 1,000-yard rusher.

The rebuild in Jacksonville, at least on the offensive side, will contain a heavy dose of Clemson with number one overall pick Trevor Lawrence at quarterback and Etienne in the backfield.

Seven games in it’s clear former Clemson football great Travis Etienne is part of the Jaguars future

Seven games into a 17-game schedule Etienne has 415 yards on 68 carries, a 6.1 yard per carry average, along with 23 catches for 151 yards.

If there’s been one hiccup in the Etienne armor this season, it’s been fumbles.  He lost a big one last Sunday that loomed large in the Jaguars loss and he’s had two others on the season.

The NFL does not tolerate fumbles for long, so that’s an area Etienne will have to address moving forward.

Etienne will get his shot, just like Lawrence is and the rebuild in Jacksonville will have a decidedly orange tint to it for the foreseeable future.