The 2018 recruiting cycle will come to an end with National Signing Day on Wednesday, and the yearly debate as to who is the true No. 1-overall prospect isn’t quite as heated as it’s been in year’s past.
Who is 2018’s No. 1 recruit? QB Trevor Lawrence, according to the consensus
The Georgia prospect enrolled at Clemson last month.
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Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, at 6’6 and 200 pounds, is this year’s No. 1 recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite. Lawrence has separated himself from the rest of the group for the majority of this cycle, and for good reason.
He’s one of the most highly-rated prospects we’ve seen in years.
Lawrence, out of Cartersville, verbally committed to Clemson in December 2016, choosing between the Tigers and a slew of other big-time offers. Lawrence’s commitment to Clemson became official in December’s Early Signing Period. He enrolled early, and stepped on campus last month, too.
So, what makes him so highly rated? For starters, he has a talented skill set as a pro-style passer, and his numbers don’t disappoint, either. He threw for over 3,000 yards during all four years of his high school career, along with a total of 161 touchdowns and just 21 interceptions, per his MaxPreps stats.
“I’ll run a little bit,” Lawrence told SB Nation last May while describing his game. “I can run if I need to. I’m not slow; I’m not super fast, but I’m kind of quick and can get out of some situations, and extend plays, but I’m not a dual-threat, I wouldn’t say. Pro-style that can run a little bit.”
Lawrence dropped out of the top spot briefly in July.
That came after Georgia early enrollee Justin Fields’ outstanding performance at the Nike Opening Finals. A factor there could also be that camps aren’t where Lawrence shines the most:
Lawrence appeared at Nike’s Charlotte combine for The Opening, a top recruiting showcase, and he dominated. When Lawrence throws a football, it has a degree of zip that high school arms shouldn’t be able to produce. He isn’t accurate on every throw, but he was pretty close. He looked as sharp on downfield fly patterns as he did on little dig routes over the middle. Receivers pushed forward and backward in line so they’d get to share reps with him.
Still, camps aren’t Lawrence’s best setting. That’s game action.
Over his career at Cartersville High School, he’s averaged 16.6 yards per throw, according to numbers kept at MaxPreps. Operating a spread offense that he says mimics Clemson’s, Lawrence has thrown 160 touchdowns against 21 interceptions, including only one as a senior. He’s never posted lower than a 60 percent completion rate. He’s led Cartersville to the Georgia class 4A state championship two years running. But in his senior season his team got bounced from the postseason early.
Fields finished at the No. 2 spot, and the No. 3 prospect per the composite is defensive end Xavier Thomas, who also enrolled early at Clemson. Thomas committed to Clemson last spring.
With Thomas, it’s about getting to the passer, just like a former standout Tigers edge rusher did before him.
Like most five-star ends, Thomas prides himself on his pass rushing. Asked by SB Nation’s Bud Elliott earlier this year if he thought he could become like any particular NFL player, he named former Clemson and current Falcons star Vic Beasley.
“Just the fact that his speed off the edge, he’s an edge rusher, and I watched him at Clemson,” Thomas says, and adds, “I really relate my game to him.”
Lawrence is the top-rated prospect in most other ratings services, too.
For ESPN, Lawrence is No. 2 behind Fields, but Lawrence is the top-rated prospect for a pocket-passer.
Lawrence is No. 1 overall in 247Sports’ non-composite rankings, too.
In December, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney compared Lawrence to Deshaun Watson, who was unlike Lawrence the No. 42 ranked prospect in the country coming into Clemson.
“He’s just so physically developed for a young guy,” Swinney said via The State. “Deshaun was obviously pretty special coming out of Georgia … He’s just way ahead of Deshaun from a physical standpoint. We’ll see where he is mentally and how he transitions and all that once he gets here and we start coaching. I don’t think that you really know that until you start coaching a guy, but he’s been well prepared, well groomed.”
We’ll see what Lawrence’s Clemson career holds. If his high school one is any indicator, his future with the Tigers is very bright indeed.
