Trevor Lawrence: If I was worried about competition, I wouldn't have gone to Clemson

Lawrence makes a thread-the-needle throw at The Opening

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Jul 16, 2017, 3:57 PM

Trevor Lawrence is just as interested as you are in watching Clemson’s quarterback battle unfold this fall, and he can’t wait to be a part of another quarterback battle in the spring.

Clemson’s 5-star quarterback commitment out of Cartersville (GA) participated in Nike’s The Opening earlier this month, and he showed why he’s considered by many scouting services to be one of the two best players in the country for the 2018 recruiting cycle.

His passes were on target, and the only thing that hurt Lawrence’s showing was the fact that his receivers weren’t used to seeing a quarterback with his kind of arm talent. Several drops were the fault of receivers who either weren’t ready for a pass to reach them that quickly or ones that they didn’t think would come their way.

Now Lawrence is ready to watch Clemson’s quarterback competition unfold this fall.

“I’m really interested,” Lawrence told TigerNet. “That’s my team and I want to see how they do and hopefully they have a really good year and Hunter (Johnson) or Kelly (Bryant) or whoever gets it will kill it. I’m interested to see what happens.”

However, Lawrence thinks he has a chance to come in and grab a starting spot next season.

“I do. You just have to have that confidence, especially on the next level,” Lawrence said. “To get that starting job and to keep it. Everywhere I go from now on, there’s going to be good competition, so if I was worried about that I wouldn’t have gone to Clemson. I’m ready for it.”

Because of that confidence and because he knows he doesn’t have a say in this year’s competition, Lawrence keeps his conversations with Clemson quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter light.

“We have a good relationship. We don’t really talk about the depth chart because there’s nothing to talk about. I’m not there yet so I’ll know when I get there,” he said. “We just casually talk.”

On The Opening

“It’s a lot of fun throwing to these guys. Every receiver that comes up there is really good. The competition is really stiff here, so it’s a lot of fun. I feel good. I feel like most of these things I’ve come to, I’ve done pretty well. I’ve been prepared for them and done well.”

On being the best

“I’m just trying to prove that I’m the best. I like to come out here and compete against these guys and see how I stack up against them. A lot of the offensive playbook stuff that we’ve done is a pretty big eye opener to me. We don’t do some of that at my high school so it’s a lot of different stuff. It’s fun testing yourself and figuring out what you can learn and how well you can process it.”

On is recruitment

“It’s slowed down a lot. It’s been a lot more relaxing. There hasn’t been a bunch of media, so that’s been good.”

His summer plans

“The All In Cookout is my only other plan. I’m going to stay home as much as I can.”

What he does away from football

“I like to play basketball a lot and hang out with my friends when I’m not playing football. I like to fish a little bit, too. When I want to unwind, I’ll probably go take a nap first because I like to get my sleep. Hanging out with my friends is one my favorite things to do.”