Clemson's Trevor Lawrence Grateful for 2020 Season
Trevor Lawrence "wouldn't change anything" about how the 2020 season has gone.
Despite not knowing for months if there would be a football season, contracting COVID-19 that caused him to miss two games and dealing with uncertainty at every turn, Clemson's star quarterback is just happy he got a chance to play the game he loves one more time at the collegiate level.
"I don't regret anything," Lawrence said Tuesday. "I'd do it all over again. I'm just super grateful that I got to play this season. This team I think is super special and just getting that opportunity to play with these guys and to really show something for the hard work that we put in...it's cool to be able to get to experience."
One of the student-athletes behind a movement to make this season happen, Lawrence didn't take this year for granted or ever contemplate opting out and getting ready for the next level. He's likely the No. 1 selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he hasn't looked forward to that or paid attention to the Heisman Trophy race.
"I became a better person," Lawrence said. "I've learned a lot about myself about, who I want to be, just all those things. Obviously, I want that to end in a good way football-wise."
Lawrence, who's averaging a career-best 319 yards per game and has thrown 19 touchdowns in seven games, admits there have been plenty of frustrations along the way. He didn't play a single football game for nearly five weeks after he tested positive for COVID-19 days before the Oct. 31 game against Boston College. Then he had to miss the Notre Dame game, which Clemson lost in double overtime, because of testing protocol, not because he still had the virus.
"There are going to be situations to have to figure out," Lawrence said. "No one's been through this before, so we're all trying to figure it out but I think for the most part, you look around, I think people have done the best they can. And we're making it work. Obviously, it's not ideal, this whole situation is not ideal. No one would choose it, but I'm just making the best out of what we got."
It came so close to not even happening for the entire sport, and now Lawrence has a chance to end what is very likely his last year with the program the way he started in 2018 when he won a national title as a freshman. Clemson must beat Virginia Tech on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. to have a shot at a rematch with Notre Dame. Win that, and the No. 3 Tigers are headed to the College Football Playoff.
It would be their sixth consecutive conference championship and berth into the final four.
"Hopefully we get a chance to play for an acc championship, playoff, national championship, all those things," Lawrence said. "I really hope that happens. It's kind of been the goal, all along. But through the process, I've learned a lot and definitely, if something happened either we, weren't able to make it there or just something happened to the season, I wouldn't look at this time as wasted but definitely be really disappointed. So that's something that we've been working for, Hopefully, we'll get that opportunity."
