Everyone knows what Trevor Lawrence can do on the field.

He led Clemson last year to an 11-0 record as a starting quarterback and became the first freshman in college football to lead his team to a national championship since 1985. In doing so, he completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 3,280 yards, while completing 30 touchdowns to just four interceptions.

But Lawrence is more than just all of those things on the stat sheets. As his starting left guard John Simpson described earlier this week at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, he also leads the Tigers in different ways. Ways that don’t show up in a box score or on television or in a box score.

“Working with a guy like Trevor Lawrence is fun,” Simpson said. “He’s the kind of guy that, like, takes the responsibility even if it’s not, like, his fault. Say, if the offensive line did something wrong or makes a mistake or something like that, ‘It’s my fault, I should have thrown it faster. It’s my fault, I should have stepped up in the pocket.’

“Having a guy like that behind you makes you feel more confident. It makes you feel like you can play faster and quicker.”

It makes his offensive line play harder for him, too. Knowing Lawrence has their back and will do anything for them, they are willing to go that extra mile for him and make sure he is protected. In other words, they literally have his back.

The Tigers return four seniors—Simpson, Sean Pollard (center), Gage Cervenka (right guard) and Tremayne Anchrum (right tackle)—on this year’s offensive line. Between them they have started a combined 61 games in their careers.

“We have a lot of great guys on the offensive line, a lot of leaders, like you said,” Simpson said. “From every position, like, except for our left tackle (sophomore Jackson Carman) right now. He’s still a young guy, we just got to bring him under our wing. We’re going to try to do everything we can to be great.”

Clemson will report for fall camp on July 30 and practice will begin on Aug. 2.