Trevor Lawrence admits it wasn’t easy to get over his first loss as Clemson’s starting quarterback, which of course came at the hands of LSU in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 13.

However, by the time spring practice rolled around on Wednesday, the rising junior was raring to go and glad to be back on the field.

“I think any time, after a game like that especially, it takes a little while to let it sink in and kind of move on,” Lawrence said. “So it took me a little while, especially just the way it happened in the national championship, and you work all year to get there. So it’s hard, especially knowing you’re not going to play with some of those guys again. But yeah, probably a couple weeks, and then you start to kind of get back like, ‘OK, let’s get back started again.’”

Lawrence had an uncharacteristically poor performance in Clemson’s 42-25 loss to LSU in the national championship game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, completing just 18-of-37 passes for 234 yards and no touchdowns while losing a fumble for the first time in his career.

Now 25-1 as Clemson’s starting quarterback, Lawrence credited LSU for being the better team on that night and handing him his first defeat, but didn’t shy away from the fact that he had an off night while leading an offense that was out of sync for most of the contest.

“LSU played well,” he said. “They did some things defensively that were really good, and then also it just wasn’t my best game. I missed some throws, down the stretch missed some big throws. So it comes down to that and then a lot of little details that are just things you only know if you’re a part of this offense. So just little things and just overall not syncing up well with offense and defense together. So, it just wasn’t our night.”

Having experienced what it is like to be on the wrong end of the ledger, Lawrence enters spring practice and the 2020 season with a fresh perspective.

“I feel like, through my two years, I’ve been through like every different situation you could be in. Just getting more and more perspective I think is the biggest thing,” he said. “Going through some adversity, I hadn’t gone through much – that’s the only game I’ve lost since I’ve been here. So it definitely gives you some more perspective and you appreciate all the little things. It makes you want to go back and work even harder to get back there and have a chance in that moment again.”

Despite his struggles in the national title game, Lawrence still had a strong sophomore season in 2019 with 3,665 yards passing, a career-high 36 passing touchdowns and only eight interceptions over 15 games. The Cartersville, Ga., native also posted 103 carries for 563 yards and a career-high nine rushing touchdowns as he earned first-team All-ACC honors.

Lawrence and the Tigers can hold their head high when thinking about what they accomplished last season, though there is no doubt it ended on a sour note, giving them plenty of fuel and motivation for the upcoming campaign.

“We’re proud of what we did,” Lawrence said. “It sucks the way it ended, but still a lot of work and a lot of time spent here preparing, and I feel like we gave it our all. We did our best, and it’s tough with a game like that obviously, but we’re still proud of what we did. But definitely with that sting, we want to build on it and give us that extra edge to make sure we’re not leaving anything on the table like we did last year.”

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