A hastily-planned pro day workout for former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence resulted in a successful session Friday for the presumptive No. 1 pick of the 2021 NFL draft.
Pending surgery on his non-throwing shoulder compelled Lawrence to work out for NFL clubs a month earlier than Clemson’s March 11 pro day, due to the recovery time required. And it came at the behest of new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer.
“I (told) him there are three choices. No. 1, you can wait until the March 11 pro day, but now your (recovery) is getting near August, because it’s a five to six month injury. The second (choice), you can not throw. He’s probably a good enough player, he could’ve said ‘I’m not doing it,’ him and his agent,” Meyer told NFL Network’s Jane Slater. “Or the third (choice), I said ‘Why don’t you just go grab a ball and throw for a little bit? … And he said ‘Let’s go.’ That was it. Next thing I know, we’re here at a pro day that they put together (quickly). That’s a guy that loves football and is confident in his ability.”
According to Lawrence’s private quarterback coach, Jordan Palmer, Lawrence had only been throwing an NFL ball for two weeks before agreeing to the workout.
“We bumped it up a month. His response to throwing early was, ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t I?,” Palmer said.
Meyer, whose team holds the No. 1 overall selection, was all but attached at the hip to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney for much of the session.
“Everything is going normal, but life happens sometimes and things get switched up. Showing that I can adapt, adjust, prepare short-notice and still put on a pretty good day,” Lawrence said.
Along with the Jaguars, NFL clubs who sent coaches and/or scouts to the workout included the Falcons, Jets, Broncos, 49ers, Chargers, Dolphins, Eagles, Giants, Lions, Patriots, Raiders, Saints, Steelers, Texans and Titans, per NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport. Those teams also got a chance to watch former Clemson WR Cornell Powell, also an NFL draft prospect, who was among Lawrence’s pass catchers.
Lawrence threw 52 passes, but for an elite prospect who NFL scouts consider the best quarterback to enter the NFL draft in years, however, there was little to prove on Friday.
“It’s like watching Steph Curry shoot a basketball,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Lawrence’s workout. “Who doesn’t like to watch that?”
Lawrence’s weigh-in results came in slightly under his Clemson-listed size of 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, measuring 6-5 5/8 and weighing 213. His hands measured 10 inches, which is comfortably above average for what NFL clubs prefer, and matched the largest hand measurements from the Reese’s Senior Bowl (Feleipe Franks, Jamie Newman).