Clemson Football: Are lofty Trevor Lawrence expectations fair?

After a strong freshman season where he led Clemson football to a national title, Trevor Lawrence has built lofty expectations — but are they fair?

As the clock was winding down on the 2019 National Championship Game, the legend of Trevor Lawrence was already developing.

Not many teams could make Alabama look like a punching bag, but Lawrence and the Tigers smacked Nick Saban’s team around for 60 minutes. They won 44-16 and Lawrence had one of the best games of his young career against an elite defense, passing for 347 yards and three touchdowns on 20-of-32 completions.

That performance sparked early conversations about the 2019 Heisman Trophy and the potential for “greatest college quarterback of all time” status.

But with only one season under his belt where he passed for 3,280 yards and 30 touchdowns, are the lofty expectations fair for the soon-to-be sophomore?

With solid play, comes lofty expectations but Lawrence has been used to this talk since high school. He was ranked the top quarterback in the 2018 recruiting class and had high hopes taking over for Kelly Bryant who replaced Deshaun Watson and still lived up to them.

The crazy expectations may not seem fair for a kid just a year removed from high school but they’ve definitely been earned and he’s learned to manage them without getting too high or too low.

So are they fair? Yes because he’s arguably the best college quarterback in recent memory and has the talent to be one of the best to ever suit up at this level before moving on to the NFL. The expectations are more than fair and they won’t negatively affect his play — it would have already done that by now.

Don’t expect a sophomore slump from Lawrence after an offseason of hearing how he’s a lock to win the Heisman because he’s learned to rise above the headlines.