Former Clemson star Trevor Lawrence has a Hall of Fame quarterback in his corner.

NFL legend Peyton Manning is rooting for Lawrence, as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ franchise QB enters his fifth NFL season in 2025 with his third different head coach.

“I’m a big Trevor Lawrence fan. I’m pulling for him,” Manning said in an interview at the 2025 Pro Bowl Games in Orlando, via 1010XL: Jaguars on YouTube. “Trevor, this will be his third head coach in just a short number of years, which that’s tough for a quarterback.”

Of course, Lawrence’s new head coach is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who was officially hired by Jacksonville on Jan. 24.

“I’m a quarterback defender, so hopefully (Lawrence) and Liam can be together for a long time and establish a little continuity,” Manning said. “But sure seems like a heck of a play-caller and I wish him well.”

Now the youngest head coach in Jaguars history, the 39-year-old Coen takes over the reins in Jacksonville from Doug Pederson, who spent three seasons as the Jaguars’ head coach from 2022-24. Pederson replaced Lawrence’s first Jaguars head coach, Urban Meyer, after Lawrence’s rookie season in 2021.

Coen has been an assistant coach for 15 seasons, with five of those campaigns coming at the NFL level. He was highly successful in 2024 as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator/play-caller while working with quarterback Baker Mayfield, and now Coen will try to carry over that success to Jacksonville with Lawrence.

Coen first coached in the NFL as an assistant wide receivers coach with the Los Angeles Rams under head coach Sean McVay in 2018-2019 before serving as an assistant quarterbacks coach with the Rams in 2020 and then serving as their offensive coordinator in 2022. In 2021 and 2023, Coen was the University of Kentucky’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

Manning, the AFC’s head coach at the Pro Bowl Games, isn’t too familiar with Coen but pointed out that Coen was actually a camper at the Manning Passing Academy, hosted by the Manning family.

“I don’t know Liam real well personally,” said Manning, a two-time Super Bowl champion, five-time MVP and 14-time Pro Bowler with the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. “We have this high school football camp called the Manning Passing Academy that every quarterback here was a counselor at. Russell Wilson was actually a camper. But Liam Coen was a camper at the camp.”

“Obviously we taught him how to be a coach. Not really. We must not have done a good job of the quarterback development,” Manning added jokingly. “But look, he’s done a heck of a job everywhere he’s been – Kentucky, the Rams. That’s a good system to be from with McVay, and done a good job with Baker. I know Baker speaks very highly of him. So, happy for him having that opportunity.”

Manning coached the AFC team that Lawrence was on as a Pro Bowler at the 2023 Pro Bowl Games in Las Vegas, and the two have a relationship dating back to Lawrence’s days at the Manning Passing Academy.

Since being drafted out of Clemson with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Lawrence has completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 13,815 yards and 69 touchdowns with 46 interceptions over 60 games from 2021-24. In 2024, the 25-year-old had a 60.6 completion percentage with 2,045 passing yards, 11 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 10 games before placed on injured reserve Dec. 4 after his shoulder injury and concussion. He underwent successful surgery on Dec. 17 to repair the AC joint sprain in his left shoulder.

–Photo courtesy Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports