Clemson Football: 3 areas Trevor Lawrence must improve to win Heisman

2. Sharpening handoffs and ball security

While he did an excellent job of protecting the ball through the air only throwing four interceptions, Trevor Lawrence struggled at times not fumbling the football.

In four of the eight games he started during the regular season, Lawrence fumbled the ball. And that number doesn’t count a fumble during the Boston College game that was only negated because of a penalty and several other almost-fumbles when he was sacked.

The strangest of the fumbles? The several botched handoffs on run-pass option plays (RPO), a play Clemson runs dozens of times a game.

Generally, players learn to squeeze the rock as they progress through their career. Lawrence should be more comfortable handing the ball off as his chemistry with Travis Etienne increases and he spends another season running the go-to plays.

Clemson will also feature another good offensive line which will reduce the number of times Lawrence is blind sighted or even hit while throwing the ball.

Cleaning up the fumbles will help alleviate some of the slow-start issues Clemson endured last season, as well. Several of Lawrence’s fumbles stunted drives early in contests, and though Clemson picked up the pace later in each game, burying an opponent early is always the better option.