ACC Football

During Saturday's game against Pittsburgh, Syracuse senior quarterback Rex Culpepper threw his first touchdown pass since being declared cancer-free in 2018.

Culpepper entered the game when Syracuse starter Tommy DeVito exited with an undisclosed injury, and he wasted little time in finding wide receiver Taj Harris for a 69-yard touchdown that put the Orange on top 10-7 in the second quarter:

Syracuse QB Rex Culpepper threw his first TD pass since being declared cancer-free in 2018 👏

(via @accnetwork) pic.twitter.com/50czw7ONRc

— ESPN (@espn) September 19, 2020

Prior to his sophomore season, Culpepper was diagnosed with testicular cancer in March 2018. Culpepper was then declared cancer-free in June of that year.

Culpepper didn't see the field at all in 2018 and attempted just one pass last season, but he was called upon Saturday when DeVito was forced to leave the game.

Prior to DeVito's return in the second half, Culpepper completed two passes for 78 yards, including the touchdown. With Syracuse trailing 21-10 in the fourth quarter, Culpepper returned to the game in relief of the banged-up DeVito.

The touchdown pass to Harris was only the third of his collegiate career, as he previously threw for two touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2017.

Culpepper saw some action in last week's 31-6 loss to North Carolina, going 3-of-7 for 22 yards and an interception.

Overall, Culpepper has thrown three touchdown passes and four interceptions in eight career appearances for the Orange.

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Tate Martell is opting out of the 2020 season following a one-game suspension by head coach Manny Diaz, according to Barry Jackson and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald.

The redshirt junior did not play in the season opener last Saturday against Alabama-Birmingham and wasn't listed on the depth chart earlier this week.

Martell has long shown plenty of promise as a college football star, though he's yet to make a name for himself on the field as an NCAA player. 

The quarterback out of Nevada was ranked the No. 2 player in the state in 2017 as well as the No. 2 overall dual-threat QB in the nation by 247Sports, which named him a four-star recruit. 

Martell originally signed with Ohio State over the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M, Michigan and Auburn but only threw 28 passes in two years on campus with the Buckeyes. After redshirting his freshman year, Martell lost the starting battle to Dwayne Haskins Jr. in 2018.

Following the news that Georgia quarterback Justin Fields was transferring to Ohio State, Martell made the decision to leave for Miami. 

That decision has yet to pay off, and a failed transition to wideout after losing another QB battle didn't help matters. 

Miami is currently using former Houston star D'Eriq King at quarterback and was rewarded with a win in the season opener against UAB. 

King completed 16 of 24 passes for 144 yards, one touchdown and a passer rating of 130.8. 

No matter the result Saturday night in Cardinal Stadium, neither Miami nor Louisville will suddenly be the ACC favorite. That title will belong to Clemson until proven otherwise.

But this prime-time clash—this lone Top 25 matchup in Week 3—is a chance for both teams to make a statement.

Miami is desperate to shake a reputation of failing to meet expectations, and Louisville wants to show its rebuild is ahead of schedule. Yet every loss is a setback to whatever growth Miami touts, and only marquee wins can legitimize Louisville's vision.

This isn't a battle for the ACC. No, it's basically to see which program has a shot to contend with Notre Dame—and maybe North Carolina or Virginia Tech—to appear in the ACC Championship Game and try to end Clemson's reign.

Progress, however, will always require a victory like this one.

🚨 UPDATE: The Miami at Louisville kickoff time has changed. pic.twitter.com/P0K8UNtrII

— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) September 12, 2020

The pressure is largely on Manny Diaz and Miami, which trudged a to 6-7 record in 2019 after a 7-6 mark the year prior. It's a familiar story for the Hurricanes, who regularly recruit at a high level but constantly have a destructive weakness.

Lately, it's been the offense.

In 2018, they were tied for 116th in yards per attempt and ranked 111th in gains of 10-plus yards through the air. Last season, Miami finished 96th in red-zone touchdown rate, 128th in sacks allowed and 129th in third-down conversions.

That shortage of explosive plays and overall inefficiency is impossible to overcome in an offense-driven era.

The worst part for the 'Canes? According to yards allowed per play, they boasted the nation's third- and 12th-best defenses in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The unit has encountered some issues, but it has consistently played well enough to win. In the last two years alone, Miami scored 21 points or fewer in 10 of its 13 losses.

Is this finally the year it changes?

During the offseason, Diaz replaced Dan Enos and his methodical offense with high-tempo coordinator Rhett Lashlee. Miami pulled D'Eriq King from the transfer portal, and the former Houston star gives the offense a true playmaker at quarterback.

When a play breaks down, King is still a threat. Miami has never had a quarterback who can do this:

The D'Eriq King show has arrived in Miami🍿

pic.twitter.com/21w7aUPjx2

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 11, 2020

In the season-opening win over UAB, King finished only 15-of-23 with 141 passing yards and one touchdown. Yet it's fair to be patient—bizarre offseason, new teammates, first game in 11 months—and acknowledge King, Cam'Ron Harris and the running game is Miami's best asset anyway. At the same time, averaging 6.1 yards per passing attempt is not a sustainable way to win.

On Saturday, he'll be facing a secondary looking to make amends for last year's disaster. Even as Miami's offense struggled for much of the season, Jarren Williams tossed six touchdowns in a 52-27 win over Louisville.

The Cardinals opened 2020 with a 35-21 triumph over Western Kentucky, holding the Hilltoppers to 5.6 yards per pass attempt. There's a massive difference in talent between WKU and Miami, though. The 'Canes will likely push for 30-plus points.

However, Louisville has the firepower to respond.

Second-year coach Scott Satterfield has already established an identity that the players believe in. That's no easy task, but it's imperative to building a winning team.

The Cards want to focus on the zone-running game with Javian Hawkins and Hassan Hall, who combined for 2,026 yards and 14 touchdowns last year. Mix in play action and stress the defense both horizontally and vertically on passing downs.

While that may sound straightforward, many teams are just calling plays—not running an offense.

Junior quarterback Micale Cunningham is the key because he's an efficient passer and mobile threat. He finished 2019 with 11.5 yards per pass attempt and 22 touchdowns to five interceptions, and he added 482 yards and six scores on the ground. Zone reads, rollouts, scrambles, draws—he demands respect on all of them.

It helps to have these receivers, too.

Tutu Atwell is electric, having racked up 1,276 yards and 12 scores on 70 catches last year. Dez Fitzpatrick is closing on 2,000 receiving yards for his career, and junior college transfer Braden Smith had 110 yards in his Louisville debut last week.

Miami has another solid defense—especially up front with Temple transfer Quincy Roche and UCLA transfer Jaelan Phillips—but cornerback is an early problem area for the unit.

"I thought at corner we were average," defensive coordinator Blake Baker said after the UAB game, per Christy Cabrera Chirinos of the school's official site.

Al Blades Jr. is mostly dependable for the 'Canes, but DJ Ivey is inconsistent and the rest of the depth chart is inexperienced.

What wins out, King's creativity or Louisville's structure? Miami's defensive line or Louisville's playmakers? Both have superb running backs, shaky offensive lines and a special teams unit that committed errors in the opening week.

Neither side is perfect. Far from it, really.

If this were a normal year, Miami/Louisville would be a sidebar to the week's biggest matchups. But in 2020, prime-time eyes will be focused on a not-so-quietly important clash to programs aiming to be part of the national conversation every week.

Miami and Louisville can only start climbing toward Clemson and the highest rung of the ACC ladder by winning these types of games consistently.

           

Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

Many of the first-round prospects for the 2021 NFL draft have opted out of the 2020 college football season, but the presumptive No. 1 pick, Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, demonstrated in Saturday night's 37-13 season-opening win over Wake Forest that he will ball out this fall.

Speaking with ESPN's Tom Rinaldi during a College GameDay segment Saturday morning, the junior quarterback said he'll graduate in December, adding, "I'm planning on this being my last season."

It wasn't exactly surprising news. Lawrence has been projected as a top pick in the 2021 draft since before he even took his final snap at Cartersville High School in Georgia. By the time he led Clemson to the 2018 national championship as a true freshman, no one would've believed Lawrence would spend four years in college.

All the same, it was refreshing to hear a star player saying the quiet part loud.

Even in the postgame interviews at their respective bowl games (or final NCAA tournament games, if you want to consider hoops prospects too) underclassmen who are projected top draft picks almost always say something along the lines of: "I'll have to sit down with my family and my coaches after the season and make that difficult decision."

It's kind of cool to already have unofficial confirmation that Lawrence will be the reward for whichever NFL team executes the most successful tank job.

His season-opening performance against the Demon Deacons was an early reminder that said lucky NFL team will get a golden-haired surgeon who makes everything look effortless.

Lawrence completed 22 of 28 passes for 351 yards and a touchdown. He also had two short rushing scores in the first quarter.

The touchdown pass was a thing of beauty. On a third-down play in the red zone, Lawrence stood tall in the pocket and flicked the ball to J.C. Chalk in the corner of the end zone, as if he were casually throwing a dart in a pub.

Lawrence also connected on several exquisite deep passes along the sideline while leading Clemson on not one, but two first-half touchdown drives of more than 90 yards.

Trevor Lawrence 10¢ throw

pic.twitter.com/MtC2Oovqhn

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 13, 2020

Heck, even the incomplete passes generally looked great.

The first pass attempt of the game was a timing route on which his intended receiver, Amari Rodgers, simply lost his footing when he made his cut. On the second incompletion, Rodgers was wide open in the end zone, where Lawrence lofted the ball for what would have been a 33-yard touchdown—if Rodgers hadn't straight-up dropped it because he was seemingly afraid he would crash into the field-goal post.

On another incompletion, Lawrence deftly escaped the pressure from a corner blitz and found Braden Galloway near the sideline, but the latter was shoved out of bounds before completing the catch. And on the final incompletion, Lawrence put the ball perfectly where only Frank Ladson Jr. could get it in the back of the end zone, but he dropped it.

In other words, Lawrence easily could have finished with north of 400 yards and two more passing touchdowns, even though his night of light work ended before the third quarter did.

Just about the only thing Lawrence did wrong all night was take a 16-yard sack on 3rd-and-6 on the opening drive—which, in classic Dabo Swinney fashion, was the first thing Clemson's head coach mentioned as room for improvement in his halftime interview with ESPN's Allison Williams.

The near-perfect performance was quite the 180 from how Lawrence began his sophomore season.

He threw a pair of interceptions in the 2019 opener against Georgia Tech and had tossed five picks by the end of Week 3. It wasn't until the fourth quarter of the Week 5 nail-biter against North Carolina that he began to snap out of the early slump and regain his championship-caliber form.

This year, though, on a Saturday when quite a few Power Five offenses looked rustier than a long-forgotten bicycle, not a speck of proverbial iron oxide was to be found on Lawrence's game.

In fairness, Wake Forest ain't Alabama or Georgia. The Demon Deacons had to replace the two best players (Essang Bassey and Amari Henderson) from a secondary that wasn't anything special in the first place. Lawrence had 272 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-3 blowout of this team last year.

But it also bears mentioning that the Tigers were breaking in several new starters too. Last year's star receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross are gone, leaving Rodgers, Ladson and Joseph Ngata to become Lawrence's new favorite targets.

It didn't matter, though. The clear front-runner to win the Heisman Trophy rather indiscriminately spread the love among nine targets. (Clemson ended the night with 13 players making a reception, but backup quarterbacks D.J. Uiagalelei and Taisun Phommachanh made four of those passes.)

It will be some time before Lawrence is tested in 2020. Clemson hosts The Citadel in Week 3, has an open date for Week 4 and doesn't draw a preseason AP Top 25 team until it travels to Notre Dame in early November.

But let's be sure to enjoy watching this phenom pad his stats for the duration of his self-proclaimed final season of college football.

Guys this talented only come around once every decade or so.

             

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @kerrancejames.

Trevor Lawrence's final season at Clemson is underway in familiar fashion with the Tigers defeating Wake Forest 37-13 at Truist Field in North Carolina on Saturday. 

Lawrence, a junior, confirmed to ESPN's College Gameday he is "planning" to leave school at the conclusion of the year. The quarterback is set to graduate in December. 

If this is indeed his last season, the 2018 National Champion, has already taken the first step towards going out on top. The No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 backed up its ranking in convincing fashion with 561 total yards and four touchdowns.

The Tigers were missing cornerbacks Derion Kendrick and Mario Goodrich and defensive end Justin Foster due to undisclosed reasons. The trio did not travel with the team to North Carolina. 

No matter, Clemson's defense held Wake Forest to 330 yards in the win.

   

Notable Performers

Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson Tigers: 22-for-28 Passing, 351 Yards, 3 Touchdowns (2 rushing)

Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson Tigers: 17 Carries, 102 Yards, 1 Touchdown

Amari Rodgers, WR, Clemson Tigers: 5 Catches, 90 Yards

Sam Hartman, QB, Wake Forest Demon Deacons: 11-for-21 Passing, 182 Yards

Christian Beal-Smith, RB, Wake Forest Demon Deacons: 11 Carries, 29 Yards

   

Lawrence Leads Another Stacked Offense

One game into the season the Clemson Tigers have certainly proved they're worthy of the No. 1 ranking. 

It was actually more like one quarter into the season, to be exact. 

Trevor Lawrence scored two touchdowns on the ground himself before Wake Forest had even made it into the red zone during the first quarter. If the Tigers are going to march back to the College Football Playoff for a sixth straight year, they needed to prove they could continue to throttle weaker defenses. 

Lawrence showed Clemson could. 

TOUCHDOWN TIGERS!

Of course, Trevor scores the first touchdown of the season for the Tigers! Rushing TD #1 this year for #16.

Of course.

Clemson 7, WF 0#ALLIN 🐅🐾 pic.twitter.com/oG0rLppcMY

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) September 13, 2020

The veteran quarterback recorded more than 350 passing yards midway through the third quarter—going an eye-popping 22-for-27 to that point. 

The mismatch was rather obvious as Lawrence continually found his receivers wide open down the seams the majority of the night. 

Clemson had four wideouts haul in passes of 25 yards or longer with Davis Allen leading the way with a 42-yard catch. 

WATCH: First career TD reception for senior JC Chalk! Beautiful throw, beautiful catch.

Watch the second half LIVE here: https://t.co/39rm1LzZeJ pic.twitter.com/ZNMXSBtXLr

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) September 13, 2020

And that's all before accounting for a run game that added another 185 yards to give the Tigers 561 yards of total offense. 

The Tigers may have been playing against Wake Forest, but the offense proved it can still hang with any team in the country. 

TOUCHDOWN TIGERS!

Clemson 34, WF 3

On that rushing TD, Travis Etienne just eclipsed the 100-yd mark -- he now holds the Clemson record with 18 career 100-yard games!

Congratulations, ETN! He breaks Wayne Gallman's previous record (17 from 2014-16). pic.twitter.com/kzVNqWVgY0

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) September 13, 2020

   

New Tigers Show Off

The amount of talent Clemson lost on both sides of the ball over the offseason was nothing short of staggering. 

Linebacker Isaiah Simmons and cornerback A.J. Terrell were both drafted in the first round. Wideout Tee Higgins followed early in the second round and safety K'Von Wallace didn't have to wait much longer with his name getting called in the fourth-round. 

If Week 1 is any indication, Clemson is going to be just fine replacing them. 

That Clemson defense... 💪💪💪

Watch them LIVE: https://t.co/39rm1LzZeJ pic.twitter.com/3KgRzrKcr3

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) September 13, 2020

The presence of defensive end Bryan Bresee should help, too. 

The No. 1 recruit in the nation last year according to 247Sports wasted no time making his presence felt in college football with half a sack while defensive end Myles Murphy, the No. 7 overall recruit, added two sacks himself. 

The young duo led a defense that finished with six sacks total. 

Bryan Bresee sighting on Clemson's first defensive possession. The No. 1 recruit in the country with a sack already.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 12, 2020

With Lawrence announcing he's leaving Clemson after this season, seeing freshman quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei take the field once the rout was on offered a glimpse of the team's future. 

Uiagalelei completed two of three passes for 16 and gave his coaching staff a few flashes of athleticism to build off of going forward.

   

What's Next

Clemson will host The Citadel Bulldogs Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. ET on ACC Network while Wake Forest heads to North Carolina State for another conference matchup next Saturday at 8 p.m. on ACC Network.

      

This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available. 

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As the ACC begins football competition Saturday, a full season and playoffs is far from guaranteed, according to documents released by Virginia Tech. 

ESPN's Andrea Adelson reported the conference could postpone or cancel its season if at least eight of its 15 member programs are unable to field a team. The news comes as Virginia Tech and Virginia postponed their September 19 game because of "COVID-19 issues."

The ACC, which includes Notre Dame football this season, could also end its season if either the Big 12 or SEC cancel their seasons. All decisions will be made by the ACC board of directors. 

The board, made up of the league's presidents and chancellors, released a statement explaining the health and safety considerations going forward at the start of the season:

"The ACC will regularly monitor the changing situation and is prepared at any time to adjust schedules and games to reflect changes in that situation. The ACC will also respect the decisions of individual schools as they continually assess the public health situation affecting their students and communities. As it has done all year, the ACC will carefully reevaluate the public health needs as we go along, relying on public health expertise and putting the health and safety of our surrounding communities at the center of our decision-making."

There are four areas that require monitoring, according to Adelson: state and local policies, as well as those from individual campuses, that could affect teams' ability to play; issues on individual campuses that prevent practices or games going ahead; COVID-19 outbreaks on teams that results in seasons being canceled; and the safety of travel.

Additionally, Adelson noted schools will need at least seven scholarship offensive lineman available to play in order to proceed with football games. 

"The safety, as well as the physical and mental well-being of these young men and women entrusted to our care by their families remains our top priority," Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock wrote after the postponement announcement. "While we share the disappointment of everyone who hoped to begin the football season against our in-state rival, we remain optimistic that a full ACC football schedule can be played thanks to the flexibility the present format permits."

Virginia Tech announced Saturday its season-opening game against rival Virginia, originally scheduled for Sept. 19, has been postponed because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Commonwealth Cup will be rescheduled for a later date, and the Hokies are going to pause football activities for four days.

Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente released a statement about the decision:

"My primary concern continues to be the well-being of the student-athletes on our football team. I hurt for them because I know how badly they want to compete. I also appreciate that these young men have been dealing with the same stress, uncertainty and anxiety as their fellow Virginia Tech students over the past few months as their spring semester was dramatically altered. Then they were forced to find a way to train on their own, and to their credit, they found a way to get it done.

"So many individuals worked so tirelessly to give us an opportunity to get back on campus to train and to get back on the practice field. To all of those individuals who continue to go the extra mile for our student-athletes, I'm extremely grateful. I appreciate how many people at Virginia Tech are so deeply invested in the success of our football team and our young men."

Virginia Tech's dashboard shows students who moved to campus in August were tested and that just 21 of the 9,041 tests returned positive results (0.23 percent). The numbers have skyrocketed, however, with 219 of the 1,331 tests taken from the period of Sept. 4 through Sept. 10 coming back positive (16.5 percent).

Pete DeLuca of WDBJ reported Friday over 40 students at the school were given interim suspensions for violating local health guidelines related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis by Shawn Hubler and Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times showed colleges around the United States have become "hot spots for virus transmission," with more than 36,000 new cases over the past week.

A viral video taken last week near the home stadium of South Carolina's football team showed students packing a sports bar with no masks or social distancing:

JUST IN: The scene tonight at TLC Sports Bar near Williams-Brice Stadium. Students say they’re going here because it’s just outside of Columbia city limits, and doesn’t have strict COVID safety guidelines. pic.twitter.com/1xpm9R1OTM

— SGTV News (@SGTVNews4) September 4, 2020

Meanwhile, Virginia Tech will now attempt to open its regular season Sept. 26 when it is scheduled to host NC State.

Hokies athletic director Whit Babcock remains hopeful the delay won't impact the team's ability to play its entire ACC schedule:

"The safety, as well as the physical and mental well-being of these young men and women entrusted to our care by their families, remains our top priority. While we share the disappointment of everyone who hoped to begin the football season against our in-state rival, we remain optimistic that a full ACC football schedule can be played thanks to the flexibility the present format permits. Despite this delay, our schedule still aligns closely with the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 football timelines."

Virginia Tech is scheduled to play every weekend through late November. Their next open date would be Nov. 28 between games against Pittsburgh and Clemson. Virginia is scheduled to face Florida State that day, so finding a way to reschedule the rivalry clash could prove difficult.

The Cavaliers are now slated to open the campaign Oct. 3 with a road game against Clemson and won't have a free date until mid-December.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he does not see himself as an activist, per comments relayed by ESPN's David M. Hale. He further clarified that he is fighting for equality and to help people that he loves.

"I'm not a civil rights activist or an activist in general. I just think we all carry a responsibility based on who you are and what your platform is. For the love of my teammates and friends, family, everyone I know, I think it's part of my responsibility to try to help any way I can," Lawrence said.

He added, "I know there's a lot of eyes on me. Critics, but also a lot of younger generation people looking up to me, so I'm conscious of that. I want to use my platform the right way and try to impact people. I'm not an activist of any sorts, but I do think I have a responsibility to promote equality and help the people I love."

The 2018 college football national champion recently tweeted a statement from himself and other college football players that called for change to combat racial injustice:

https://twitter.com/Trevorlawrencee/status/1302714890138853378

Lawrence and other Clemson football team members led a march for social justice and equality and against systemic racism and police brutality on the university's campus on June 13.

Per Hale, Lawrence was one of more than two dozen college football players to craft the statement, including top 2021 NFL draft prospect Penai Sewell, an offensive tackle who previously played for Oregon.

Some of the calls for action include asking colleges to withhold athletic responsibilities on November 3 so players can vote on Election Day, building community outreach initiatives, raising awareness of racial injustice and having conversations about change with groups such as police departments, college administrators and local governments and community leaders.

Lawrence expanded upon his comments and the statement's purpose:

"Through all this, we've tried to just say, 'I know we have some differences, but let's try to find some things we all agree on,' and how do we start change from there.

"I think it's powerful that we've been able to make decisions pretty quickly as a group from all over the country to make things happen. That's where you have to start, is to find common ground and understand people's differences, but leave room for people to learn and change their mind and maybe say, 'I thought this way before, but I've kind of changed my mind.'

"We want to create a situation where people can grow. We don't want to put pressure on people to all change at the same time. But I think we can all agree the country's not in a great place right now. There's a lot of room for growth."

Lawrence is one of college sports' most prominent and publicly known athletes. He has lost just one game in two seasons as Clemson's starting quarterback and led the Tigers to the College Football Playoff National Championship twice.

For his career, Lawrence has completed 65.5 percent of his passes for 8.6 yards per attempt, 66 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in addition to 740 rushing yards and 10 more scores.

His potential impact in the fight for social justice given his stature can't be understated, and Lawrence further explained how he sees himself in the fight, per Hale:

"I don't want to ever be used as a political pawn. I want to see the advancement of all people. I want people to be equal. That's where I stand, so I felt like some of the things I've done are the best ways I can support my teammates. It's not like I'm necessarily aligning with one side of politics or the other. It's just that I love my teammates and I love my friends and I see they're hurting; so how can I support them emotionally and publicly?"

Clemson will open its 2020 college football season Saturday at Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is one of the most recognizable players in all of college football, and he announced Sunday a five-point plan on behalf of the players for "actionable steps to create real change" when it comes to the fight against racial injustice and systemic inequities.

"We, the players, have a voice, and we will use it to drive out injustice, improve our communities and inspire future generations," he said in the statement.

https://twitter.com/Trevorlawrencee/status/1302714890138853378

The five-point plan is as follows:

"1. Ensure all of our teammates are registered to vote & have November 3rd free from athletic obligations so we all can vote.

"2. Discuss with our presidents & administrators to further raise awareness about racial injustice and create initiatives to further empower our communities

"3. Create community outreach initiatives via clothing, food, school supply, and book drives, as well as amplifying current local organizations that are benefiting communities

"4. Normalize having routine conversations about change (policing, legal rights, addressing racial injustice, etc.) between college football teams & our respective police departments, local governance, and community leaders to build trust and empathy

"5. On game days, we will use our platforms to raise awareness via wearing shirts, utilizing statements on our helmets and jerseys, and playing tribute videos to recognize victims of racial injustice & share our own stories"

In June, Lawrence, as well as teammates Darien Rencher, Cornell Powell and Mike Jones Jr., organized "A March for Change" on Clemson's campus to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Today was amazing. Another step in the right direction. Thank you to everyone who came out and was a part of an impactful night🧡 pic.twitter.com/lpUORk5HcY

— Trevor Lawrence (@Trevorlawrencee) June 14, 2020

A number of college football teams have joined worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism that have stemmed from the police shootings and killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake and many others.

Alabama football players recently organized a march in the wake of the police shooting of Blake, and head coach Nick Saban joined:

Equality. It's all we want. pic.twitter.com/hFQG1X6Llw

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) September 1, 2020

Achieve with Togetherness #RollTide pic.twitter.com/0AuDNT1MdL

— Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) September 1, 2020

While the Power Five conferences—or those that are playing amid the COVID-19 pandemic after the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed their seasons—are yet to start their 2020 campaigns, this is another example of high-profile athletes using their platforms to fight for change this year.

Many players from the NBA and other leagues joined in the marches and protests following the police killing of Floyd, and the Milwaukee Bucks recently made national headlines when they refused to play in a postseason game against the Orlando Magic following the shooting of Blake.

That started a domino effect that saw three days of NBA playoff games postponed, some games in Major League Baseball postponed and games in Major League Soccer postponed as players raised awareness for the need for change and social justice.

Lawrence has been a major voice for college football players this offseason, as he and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields were also among those who called for better health and safety protocols for players amid the pandemic and demanded the right to "use our voices to establish open communication and trust between players and officials; ultimately create a college football players association."

Leading up to the start of their 2020 season, the Clemson Tigers got on the Drake bandwagon by recreating the music video for his latest single. 

Clemson football released its own version of the "Laugh Now Cry Later" music video:

The video features several key members of the Tigers, including Trevor Lawrence and a cameo at the end by head coach Dabo Swinney. 

Clemson deserves credit for its work, as the video made the rounds enough to catch the eye of Drake:

In case you haven't seen @Drake's latest IG story... 🦉x 🐅 pic.twitter.com/cCxCYimk1k

— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) September 5, 2020

It's not a surprise to see the song, which was released as a single on Aug. 14, get picked up by sports teams. Drake has had a longstanding relationship with Nike, which played a significant role in his version of the music video for the song. 

Clemson has an apparel deal with Nike, and Drake appeared to declare his fandom for the Tigers by appearing in a photo with Swinney last year. 

All of the pieces came together for the Tigers to pay homage to the Canadian hip-hop superstar by making their own version of one of his music videos.