Trevor Lawrence already knew he was headed to the Jacksonville Jaguars long before Thursday night’s NFL Draft. What he didn’t know was that one of his Clemson teammates would be joining him.
The Jaguars also had the No. 25 pick in the first round, and they used it on running back Travis Etienne, Lawrence’s teammate at Clemson. On Friday, Lawrence didn’t hide his excitement, adding that the selection was a total surprise to him. Lawrence said, via Garrett Stepien of 247Sports:
“Yeah, I was honestly not expecting it at all. And then we had just been celebrating and hanging out and taking pictures and doing everything, so we weren’t even really watching the draft. And then we knew we were picking at 25, so started watching around 20. I had no idea who we were going to take. And then I got a text right before it went on TV, ‘We’re picking Travis.’ So I was like, ‘I didn’t even know we were going to take a running back.’ It was awesome. So like I said, it just makes it special. I got someone to come with me from Clemson, and it’s just awesome.”
Lawrence and Etienne played together for three years at Clemson, winning a national championship together. Both were vital parts of the Tigers offense for virtually their entire time together. The Jaguars certainly knew they were getting two guys fully capable of working together.
Lawrence will definitely be the marquee name of the class. Etienne, who racked up 6,107 all-purpose yards in his college career, shouldn’t be overlooked, though.
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