Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney went on a mini rant about Trevor Lawrence after a question arose about his health, and it was justified.
There are just some things you don’t do in college football. You don’t run up the score, you don’t plant flags on opposing teams’ fields (without expecting a backlash) and you don’t poke the sleeping bear that is head coaches when asked about their players’ health.
Injuries are one of the biggest rant-starters in for head coaches, and the media found that out the hard way on Wednesday after asking Dabo Swinney if Trevor Lawrence had an MRI.
There had apparently been rumors about Lawrence not being fully healthy because of his sluggish and uncharacteristic start to the season, but Swinney felt it was necessary to get his point across with a rant — and he was completely right to do so.
Listen, if any of us were in Swinney’s position, you’d probably feel the same exact way. His sophomore quarterback isn’t setting the world on fire like he did last year and it’s because of the unbelievable, and almost unfair, expectations placed upon him before the season.
Everyone expected Lawrence to be the second coming of Peyton Manning this season and that wasn’t exactly fair to put on a kid with only one year removed from high school ball.
Lawrence was expected to run away with the Heisman, but he has gotten off to a pedestrian start to the season with 1,131 yards and eight touchdowns with five interceptions through five games — he had four interceptions all of last year.
Maybe ease off this kid and just realize he’s human and he’s going to miss some throws because he’s not perfect. No one is.
Good for Swinney for backing his quarterback amid plenty of doubt in his health.