Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) drops back to pass as running back Tavien Feaster (28) defends during their NCAA Cotton Bowl semi-final playoff football game against Notre Dame on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)Trevor Lawrence didn't shy from Clemson's stacked quarterback depth chart when he committed to the Tigers back in December 2016.
Nobody is expecting him to cower now with Monday night's College Football Playoff championship game against Alabama looming. The showdown between the No. 1 Crimson Tide (14-0) and the No. 2 Tigers (14-0) will take place in Santa Clara, California.
Lawrence committed to Clemson when two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Deshaun Watson was on his way to leading Dabo Swinney's Tigers to the program's first national championship since 1981. Kelly Bryant was the favorite to succeed Watson for the 2017 season and did just that, and Clemson added to its arsenal earlier that year by signing quarterbacks Hunter Johnson and Chase Brice.
None of that mattered to Lawrence, the 6-foot-6, 215-pounder from Cartersville, Georgia, who enrolled last January.
"To this day, he has never asked me about another quarterback - not one time," Swinney said this week. "He's never asked me one question about anybody that we were recruiting or anybody on our roster, and I just think that was one of the things that I knew early on about him. Here is a guy who's got this rare confidence and focus.
"He's just always been really locked in on himself and who he is and not worried about things he doesn't control."
Bryant led Clemson to the No. 1 seed in last season's playoff, but he was overwhelmed by Alabama in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal, throwing for 124 yards and getting intercepted twice. He held off Lawrence and Johnson this past spring to maintain the starting spot, with Johnson deciding to transfer in May and announcing Northwestern several weeks later as his new destination.
Swinney went with Bryant as his starter during the first four games this season against Furman, Texas A&M, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech, but he made a publicized switch to Lawrence, which resulted in Bryant immediately leaving the team. Bryant announced last month that he was transferring to Missouri.
"It was not about the depth chart or any of that kind of stuff," Lawrence said. "It was the culture and the coaches and just everyone on the team. These were the guys I wanted to be around and the type of people I wanted to surround myself with, and this is obviously a great program that's going to play for championships.
"Those were the big things that had me wanting to go here. I knew that all this stuff would take care of itself and that this was the right place for me."
Lawrence, who went 52-2 as the Cartersville High starter and was the nation's top overall prospect in the 2018 signing class, credits Watson for laying a path that was filled with accomplishments. Watson began his Clemson career in 2014 as the backup to then-senior Cole Stoudt and even endured a couple of injuries before flourishing.
Having to wait briefly behind Bryant was a learning experience for Lawrence as well.
"It was just one of those things where you have to earn respect and kind of show what you can do and prove yourself a little bit," he said. "The biggest thing is not to be that guy who's cocky and comes in and thinks he's going to do all these things. You can be confident, but I think it's got to show through how you play and all that stuff instead of what you say.
"Just gradually earning the respect of my teammates and just kind of showing what I can do I think has helped me earn their respect, and I feel like everyone on the team now is really close and that we're hitting our stride at the right time."
Lawrence's career as the starter got off to a shaky start on Sept. 29, when he sustained a concussion against Syracuse and watched from the sideline as Brice rallied the Tigers to a 27-23 victory. He returned a week later, which happened to be his 19th birthday, to complete 20 of 25 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns in a 63-3 annihilation of Wake Forest.
Weekly drubbings quickly became the norm for Clemson, and Lawrence was named ACC rookie of the week five times. In a 77-16 humbling of Louisville, the Tigers set a program record by averaging 11.6 yards per snap.
Lawrence will enter Monday's title game having completed 239 of 366 passes (65.3 percent) for 2,933 yards with 27 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His efficiency rating of 155.2 leads the ACC and ranks 16th nationally.
"He certainly doesn't look like a freshman, that's for sure," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "He's got a lot of poise and does a really good job of executing their offense. He's very instinctive in terms of making the reads he needs to make, and he doesn't make a lot of mistakes in terms of where he wants to throw the ball.
"He's got a great arm and he's very accurate, and they've made a lot of explosive plays, but he's also done a good job of taking what the defense gives in terms of making a read sometimes."
Lawrence's biggest stage to this point was last Saturday's Cotton Bowl semifinal against Notre Dame at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Tigers gained 1 yard on their opening possession, when Lawrence threw two incompletions, but he quickly settled down and wound up completing 27 of 39 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns in the 30-3 shellacking.
"I thought it went well," Lawrence said. "There can be some challenges as far as not being focused if you don't really know what you're there for as far as getting caught up in all the other stuff, but I think our team did a great job of focusing. We had one of the best weeks of practice we've had all season, and we were really locked in.
"We had a good time, and we enjoyed everything else, but ultimately we knew what we were there for."
An even grander stage awaits Lawrence on Monday night, as does a far grander foe.
Tide schedule
Alabama held its first of four on-campus practices Tuesday afternoon for the CFP championship game. The Crimson Tide will work in Tuscaloosa through Friday before flying to California, and they are scheduled to practice Saturday at Stanford University.
Fifth-year senior outside linebacker Christian Miller (hamstring) did not participate in the portion of Tuesday's practice that was open to the media.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.