Trevor Lawrence’s freshman season at Clemson remains one of the gold standards for first-year college quarterbacks — and it’s no surprise he’s now been named the top true freshman of the 2000s.
Lawrence, who stepped into the starting job during the 2018 season, helped guide the Tigers to a historic 15-0 record, marking the first time in the modern era a team hit that milestone. Once he got the keys to Clemson’s offense, the Tigers were nearly unstoppable on their path to a national championship.
CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer points out just how impressive Lawrence’s numbers were during that title run. “One of only two true freshman starting quarterbacks to lead their team to a national championship — Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway did it back in 1985 — Lawrence immediately lived up to the recruiting hype,” Hummer wrote. Lawrence finished his debut season with 3,280 passing yards, an ACC-best 30 touchdowns against just four picks, and an average of 8.3 yards per attempt. No other FBS true freshman quarterback since 2000 has thrown for at least 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns while throwing fewer than five interceptions.
And he saved some of his best work for the biggest stages. In Clemson’s two College Football Playoff games that year — blowout wins over Notre Dame and Alabama — Lawrence combined for 674 passing yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions, cementing his place in college football history.
Lawrence grabbed the starting job from veteran Kelly Bryant by Clemson’s fifth game of the 2018 season, after tossing four touchdowns off the bench in a dominant win at Georgia Tech. Though he got knocked out of his first official start against Syracuse, backup Chase Brice stepped in to secure the comeback win. After that scare, the Tigers steamrolled almost everyone they faced — putting up 40 or…
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Publish date : 2025-07-01 03:00:00
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