Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is moving on to the NFL.
He announced his intention to forego his remaining eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft as an underclassman on Wednesday.
Lawrence's 2020 season ended with a loss to Ohio State in a College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 1. While he was outshined by the Buckeyes’ Justin Fields in that game, Lawrence is still widely considered the nation's top quarterback prospect. He suffered only one other loss in his career -- to 2020 No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow's LSU team in last season's national championship game -- and was the runner-up for the 2020 Heisman Trophy to Alabama's DeVonta Smith.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pounder (school measurements) arrived at Clemson from Cartersville, Georgia, as the nation's top recruit and immediately captured the NFL's attention, leading the Tigers to a national title as a true freshman. Personnel evaluators have been smitten with his rare blend of accuracy, size, athleticism and arm strength ever since. Finishing with a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 90:17, his completion percentage (66.6% for his career) and yards per attempt (8.9) increased each year. One of the few things that proved capable of slowing him down was a positive COVID-19 test, which sidelined him for two contests.
After studying three of his games from the 2019 season, NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah likened Lawrence this summer to one of the QB's CU predecessors, Texans star Deshaun Watson.
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