Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney always asks his players to be leaders and to understand what responsibilities they have, not only on the football field, but in everyday life as well.

Few players on Clemson’s football roster are watched, on and off the field, as much as quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The Tigers’ signal caller is the conversation as college football’s best player. He is one of the favorites to win this year’s Heisman Trophy and next year he is expected by so many to be the top player in the NFL Draft.

Off the field, Lawrence is using his platform for good. This past week, along with his girlfriend, Anderson University soccer player Marissa Mowry, Lawrence started a GoFundMe page to help the victims of the COVID-19 crisis and their families.

“I think it is great when anyone tries to reach out and help in a time of need. Certainly, I am proud of our players,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said on Wednesday. “I know we had a little bit of a media issue this week with Trevor and what his girlfriend was trying to do there. So, I think it is great. That is what servant leadership is all about.”

After some compliance issues were worked on Tuesday evening, Lawrence and Mowry are working to get the GoFundMe page back up and running and making sure the money collected is going to the right organizations and is getting to the people who need it the most during this difficult time in our country.

“That is servant leadership at its best right there, trying to use his platform to help others. I am glad that the NCAA is allowing them to hopefully make a difference for some folks,” Swinney said.

Lawrence and Mowry started the GoFundMe page Monday and gained a lot of support from Clemson fans. However, Mowry came out Tuesday apologizing to the fans because the NCAA asked her and Lawrence to take it down.

However, the NCAA came out later that night on Twitter saying, “The NCAA did not ask Clemson student-athlete Trevor Lawrence to take down his fundraiser for COVID-19 patients and their families.”

“Everyone has made them out to be the bad guy, but it was more of just the rules that have already been in place,” Lawrence said. “They have done a really good job of responding and actually allowing us to do it.”

Lawrence took to Instagram Tuesday night to explain the miscommunication from Clemson and the NCAA.

“We just wanted to say that it was not necessarily the NCAA doing anything bad,” he said. “They were not trying to stop us from raising money for this cause. It was more of just the rules that are in place that (Clemson’s) compliance department was following just to make sure we were in the clear as an organization, that we were doing things the right way.

“We weren’t exactly going by the rules, so we had to take that down and we were just trying to make sure we were okay. But the NCAA … shout out to the NCAA. Thank y’all so much for granting a waiver. They are allowing us to raise money now, to continue to raise money for what we were doing originally.”

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