Clemson Football

Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney said Wednesday that he did not understand the NCAA's decision to allow student-athletes to be exempt from "countable athletically related activities" on Election Day.

"I didn't really understand the day off thing. Most all of our guys are going to have already been voted," Swinney said, per Matt Connolly of The State.

"There's going to be a few who will go vote here. Certainly, always have time to go get that done, but that's what they passed, so that's going to definitely change things for everybody."

Per Corbin McGuire of NCAA.com, the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee proposed that the NCAA allow one day per year for student-athlete participation in civic engagement, which includes voting, community service and other related activities.

The NCAA Division I Council approved the committee's legislation, with chairperson and University of Pennsylvania athletic director M. Grace Calhoun providing this statement on Sept. 16:

"The Council unanimously supports this important piece of legislation. Coming from Division I SAAC, we know it represents the voice of student-athletes across the country who continue to express a desire to increase their civic engagement at local, state and federal levels. We look forward to seeing student-athletes use this opportunity as a way to create positive change."

The 3-0 Tigers, who are No. 1 in the nation, are scheduled to play at No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday, Nov. 7, four days after the student-athletes' day off.

Swinney discussed how the NCAA's decision will affect his team's schedule and preparation that week:

"Our normal off day is Sunday. So people will have to come in on Sunday. It'll just cut down on our prep time. Typically we're off on Sunday and that's a heavy prep day, Sunday, Monday for us."

"We get our guys at 4 o'clock on Monday, and we always feel like we've gotten a lot of work done. So you're gonna miss Tuesday. So you've gotta get that stuff done on Sunday, and it's a quick turnaround for you. Play Saturday, quick turnaround. But it's the same for every team out there so it just is what it is."

For now, Clemson is preparing to play No. 7 Miami at home in Memorial Stadium on Saturday. ABC will televise the 7:30 pm. ET game. 

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney doesn't appear to be interested in making a move to the Houston Texans to reunite with Deshaun Watson. 

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Swinney said he hasn't heard from his former quarterback and "that is not even anything that I want to even have to think about" (starts at 30:10 mark):

The Texans fired head coach and general manager Bill O'Brien on Monday after a 31-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4 that dropped their record to 0-4 this season.

O'Brien's recent tenure with Houston was marred by questionable roster decisions that left the organization without first-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. He also traded All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for David Johnson and two draft picks. 

Watson is the face of Texans football after signing a four-year, $160 million extension in September. 

Before the Texans selected Watson with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft, he was Clemson's starting quarterback for three seasons under Swinney. The Georgia native threw for 10,168 yards and 90 touchdowns in 38 games. 

In his final college game, Watson threw for 420 yards and three touchdowns in a 35-31 win over Alabama to win the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship. 

Swinney has a 133-31 record with two national titles in 12 seasons as Clemson's head coach.

Clemson freshman running back Demarkcus Bowman has entered the transfer portal, AL.com's Matt Zenitz reported Thursday.

247Sports listed Bowman as a 5-star prospect, and the site rated him as the No. 20 overall recruit and No. 3 running back in the class of 2020.

The Tigers have used Bowman sparingly this season. He has rushed for 32 yards on nine carries in appearances against Wake Forest and The Citadel.

Chris Hummer of 247Sports reported Clemson has already canceled Bowman's financial aid, meaning it is highly unlikely he will exit the portal and return to the Tigers.

While there was a great deal of excitement surrounding Bowman's commitment to Clemson, he wasn't necessarily expected to have a big impact as a freshman.

He was behind senior starter and likely high NFL draft pick Travis Etienne on the depth chart, plus he had to compete with the likes of Darien Rencher, Chez Mellusi, Kobe Pace and Lyn-J Dixon for touches.

Head coach Dabo Swinney recruited and signed Bowman with an eye toward the future, and it is possible he would have taken over as the featured back next season following the departures of Etienne and Rencher.

Swinney had high expectations for Bowman, comparing him to Tigers legend C.J. Spiller. Spiller starred for four seasons at Clemson, racking up 3,547 rushing yards, 1,420 receiving yards and 43 touchdowns.

The Buffalo Bills selected Spiller with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft, and he recorded one 1,000-yard rushing season and one Pro Bowl appearance during his eight-year NFL career.

After Bowman starred at Lakeland High School in Lakeland, Florida, similar greatness was expected, but if it is going to happen, it won't be in Clemson's orange and purple uniforms.

The move doesn't hurt Clemson significantly in the present since Etienne is a bell cow, but it could be an issue for the Tigers next year and beyond when their running back depth thins out.

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said Tuesday that he believes Black lives matter but is not in favor of players putting social justice messages on their uniforms or helmets. 

"It's not that I'm not for the messages, but I'm a very traditional guy," Swinney said, per The Athletic's Grace Raynor. "I came from Alabama. It's not anything to do with the messages, I've always just not messed with uniforms. But that's all changed this year."

He also said that "anyone who doesn't believe Black lives matter, you should look into your soul," per David Hale of ESPN, but added that he was "apolitical":

"I'm on board with a lot of the messages, but I'm not on board with political organizations. That's a different question. I'm apolitical. To me, that's divisive. I've voted Democrat, Republican, independent, I've written in people when I didn't like anyone running. I'm apolitical when it comes to organizations. I don't support organizations, I support common-sense causes."

On his radio show Monday night, Swinney said he supports his players' right to free speech, per Hale:

"For our football team, this is America and everybody has the right to free speech. I don't judge somebody because they don't think the way I think. I think that is one of the issues that we have. We don't have any tolerance or respect for differences of opinion, different views anymore. There is no one around here that supports a senseless death of any kind; racism, anything that is against the police or police brutality. Nobody supports those things."

The NCAA announced in July that college football players would be allowed to put social justice messages on their uniforms. The NBA and WNBA allowed their players to do the same in their respective bubble environments amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

NFL players also wore a T-shirt on the field before Week 1 games that read "Injustice against one of us is injustice against all of us" on the front and "End racism" on the back. Houston Texans defensive back Michael Thomas helped design the shirts. 

Trevor Lawrence and Clemson did not waste any time turning Saturday's contest against The Citadel into a blowout.

Lawrence accounted for three first-quarter touchdowns and the Tigers scored 49 first-half points on their way to a 49-0 win in their lone nonconference game of the 2020 season. ACC schools will play 10 league games and one out-of-conference contest in a schedule reconfigured because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The game amounted to little more than a glorified scrimmage for Clemson, a massive favorite that sat its starters in the second half.

Lawrence threw for 168 yards and three touchdowns, adding a two-yard rushing score.

       

Notable Stats

QB Trevor Lawrence: 8-of-9 passing, 168 yards, 3 touchdowns; 1 carry, 2 yards, 1 touchdown

RB Travis Etienne: 8 carries, 68 yards

WR Amari Rodgers: 1 reception, 44 yards, 1 touchdown

WR Frank Ladson Jr.: 3 receptions, 87 yards, 2 touchdowns

         

Now's the Time for Lawrence to Rack Up Heisman Trophy Numbers

There's not much left for Lawrence to accomplish in college. He's already won a national championship. He's one of the best quarterbacks in Clemson history. There is no doubt he will be the No. 1 selection in next April's NFL draft, barring a catastrophic injury.

All that's left, really, is walking away with a second national title in one hand and a Heisman Trophy in the other.

Games like Saturday's won't accomplish much on the latter goal. If we were living in an NCAA Football video game world, Lawrence would have stayed in until late in the fourth quarter and put up something to the tune of 687 yards and nine touchdowns to pad his stats for the box-score watching voters.

In real life, Lawrence has knees and arms and ankles that need to be protected. Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney didn't waste much time handing the keys over to D.J. Uiagalelei in what otherwise could have turned into a triple-digit scoring effort for the Tigers. 

Clemson has a back-loaded ACC schedule, with three of its final four opponents ranked in this week's Top 25. Lawrence's biggest test comes Nov. 7 against Notre Dame, which will also be his best spot to secure the trophy.

For all the lack of debate about Lawrence's standing in the hierarchy college football players, these stats matter. Joe Burrow won the Heisman last year because he was putting up video game numbers for the nation's best team. Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, the three Heisman-winning quarterbacks who came before Burrow, had only the video game stats thing in common. 

Lawrence will need a couple of 400-yard, four-touchdown games to lock this thing down. 

Clemson football head coach Dabo Swinney has agreed to receive $1.25 million less in compensation because of the university and athletic department's financial concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Steve Berkowitz of USA Today wrote:

"The document—provided in response to an open-records request—says Swinney will give up a $1 million retention payment that would become payable if he remains the Tigers' head coach through Jan. 1, 2021, and he will not receive a $250,000 raise that had been set to take effect on Jan. 1.

"Taken together, the reductions represent a decrease of just over 13 percent of the $9.375 million that Swinney was due to make during the university's 2021 fiscal year, which ends June 30."

Per Berkowitz, the Clemson athletic department expects annual operating revenue for the 2021 fiscal year "to be $30 million to $50 million lower than originally expected." 

The pandemic caused the shutdown of collegiate sports in mid-March right before the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments. The remainder of the winter sports championships and the entire spring sports seasons were called off.

Schools are attempting to play slightly truncated, conference-heavy football seasons this year amid the pandemic. Clemson is among them, although capacity at games has been reduced dramatically or eliminated entirely, thereby hurting athletic department revenue.

Clemson has limited capacity to 19,000 in its 81,500-seat Memorial Stadium.

Although Swinney is expected to lose $1.25 million in compensation, he is still set to make $8.25 million during his 2020 contract year, per Berkowitz.

Swinney, who has led Clemson to two national championship wins and four title game appearances overall, signed a 10-year contract with $50 million guaranteed that is worth at least $93 million, per Berkowitz.

In addition to Swinney, other Clemson athletic department officials making $400,000 or more are taking 10 percent pay cuts, per Berkowitz. School president James Clement is also taking that pay cut as well.

Those cuts were expected to save the university $3.4 million, per athletics department spokesman Jeff Kallin.

Clemson football is surging forward amid the pandemic and has started the season 1-0 after a win over Wake Forest on Sept. 12.

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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During an appearance on ESPN College Gameday on Saturday, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he is "planning" for the 2020 campaign to be his final collegiate season.

While Lawrence is only a junior, he noted that he is going to graduate in December, which may give him even more incentive to forgo his senior year.

After leading Clemson to the CFP National Championship in each of his first two seasons and winning a national title as a freshman, Lawrence is considered the favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL draft.

As a freshman, Lawrence wrestled the starting job away from Kelly Bryant and went on to complete 65.2 percent of his passes for 3,280 yards, 30 touchdowns and four interceptions en route to the Tigers beating Alabama in the National Championship Game.

Lawrence and the Tigers fell to LSU in last season's CFP National Championship, the signal-caller was even more impressive statistically in completing 65.8 percent of his attempts for 3,665 yards, 36 touchdowns and eight picks. He also became a big-time threat with his legs last season, rushing for 563 yards and nine touchdowns.

Lawrence is a prototypical NFL quarterback with ideal size, the ability to make any throw and the willingness to make plays with his legs when he needs to.

He is reminiscent of former Stanford and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck in many ways, and he could be the surest bet to thrive as a quarterback at the NFL level since Luck went first overall to the Colts in 2012.

Lawrence has nothing left to prove and can't really boost his draft stock more than he already has. A second national title and perhaps a Heisman Trophy in 2020 would be the perfect exclamation point to his already-legendary college career, but he will be remembered fondly by Clemson fans regardless.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 not playing college football in the fall due to COVID-19, there is less competition for Lawrence and the Tigers to win it all this season.

Lawrence has made it clear that he wants to play this season as long as the NCAA creates a safe environment, and he will get a chance to step on the field for the first time this season when Clemson faces Wake Forest on Saturday night.

Barring a change of heart, it looks like it will be the final season-opening game of Lawrence's college career.

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.