With basketball season over, Clemson fans can once again turn their attention to football. But let’s be honest. Do they ever really turn their attention away from it?
After taking the last 10 days off for spring break, the Tigers will hit the practice fields today as they begin the final two weeks of spring practice. Clemson will conclude spring drills on April 6 with the annual Orange & White Spring Game in Death Valley.
With only baseball season left to rival its attention, the football talk should get even heavier in the months to come, especially as the 2019 season gets closer to starting. With that talk will come the highest expectations ever put on one Clemson team.
The Tigers, who are coming off the first ever 15-0 season in the major college football modern era, will likely be the preseason’s No. 1 team when the new year begins. No Clemson team has ever started a season ranked No. 1 in the country.
“I don’t try to think about that stuff too much. It really doesn’t matter for me,” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “Other people might see that, but it does not matter. It does not really affect anything.”
Lawrence is a big reason why the expectations for the Tigers are so high. After torching Notre Dame and Alabama in the College Football Playoff, he comes into the new year as one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy, while at the same time he’s expected to lead the Tigers back to the national championship game.
Lawrence finished his first season as a starter as the ACC leader in touchdown passes (30), yards per attempt (8.3), fewest interceptions thrown (4) and efficiency rating (157.56). His 3,280 yards ranked second in the league, as did his 65.2 percent completion percentage.
He was also second in the league in completions (259) and attempts (397).
Lawrence guided the Tigers to an 11-0 record as a starter. Though his first start ended with an injury that took him out of the game, he bounced back by leading Clemson to 10 straight wins of 20-plus points, including a 44-16 win over Alabama in the national championship game.
In the title game, Lawrence completed 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns on his way to being named Offensive MVP.
So, it is easy to see why Lawrence will be the face of college football in 2019 and why the expectations are off the chart.
“The only expectations you need to focus on are the ones you put on yourself and also what the team has as a whole,” he said. “We are trying to block out all the expectations people are putting on us because this is a different team.
“People are going to say we are not going to be as good this year. People are going to expect us to do a lot of a great things, too. So, I think just blocking that out and staying true to who we are and what our goals are is going to be really important.”
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