Streeter to Lawrence: 'Trust the system'
Clemson Tigers sophomore quarterback Trevor Lawrence began the 2018 season as a backup behind Kelly Bryant, but after impressing coaches during a 49-21 win in Week 5 against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the team was his to lead.
And lead he did, all the way to the country's first 15-0 season since 1897 and Clemson’s second national title in three years.
But this season, with a momentous amount of pressure and high expectations for the team’s continued success, coaches in Clemson are working to keep Lawrence grounded, advising the quarterback against trying to do too much on the field, according to Tigers quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.
“My thing for him is just to continue to be who you are,” Streeter said during Clemson’s media day on Tuesday. “Don't change. Keep it simple. That's one thing that we went through in the spring. I've had this before, where guys that have mastered an offense and learned the offense and really understand it, sometimes try to do too much. And he tried to do too much that first part of spring.”
Streeter said Lawrence needed to “keep it simple and trust the system.”
“So, he did that the second half of spring and did a great job,” the coach said. “We always talk about leadership, and leadership is something that's so important to every team. He's a guy that needs to take it to the next step. Now he's in control of this offense."
Lawrence needed to do a better job at managing in-game situations and continue improving on his footwork, Streeter added.
“There's a lot of situations that happened last year, and he did a great job managing it,” Streeter said. “But, there's a few times where he could have managed it better and just being ready for those situations when they come about.”
Footwork and staying in the pocket were other areas in which Lawrence could improve heading into the 2019 season, Streeter said.
“Sometimes he would drift to the left or to the right and really didn't need to,” Streeter said about the quarterback. “Just continuing to be very, very consistent with this footwork in the pocket” was a priority.
“Those tackles have a tough job to keep that integrity of the pocket, and Trevor just needs to do a great job of making sure he stays inside those pocket areas,” Streeter said. “For the most part he did a great job of that. But, there's some times where he would drift into the area where the tackle was, and he can always improve on that.”
