Trevor Lawrence is used to throwing the football to Travis Etienne.
The two connected for a winning touchdown in one of the greatest wins in Clemson history when the Tigers beat Ohio State in the 2020 College Football Playoff Semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl.
However, Lawrence mostly threw the football to Etienne coming out of the backfield when the two played together at Clemson. That has not been the case, however, in rookie minicamp in Jacksonville.
Urban Meyer, the new head coach of the Jaguars, has lined the ACC’s all-time rushing leader at wide receiver during minicamp. Meyer thinks Etienne, who the Jaguars picked at No. 25 overall in the draft, can be used a lot like the way the Steelers used Le’Veon Bell in his prime.
“At the worst-case scenario, you have a running back with the skillset of a wide receiver,” Meyer told reporters this past weekend. “Best-case scenario you’ll have a hybrid player who does both and that’s what we’re hoping to develop out of Travis.”
Etienne said Meyer has been upfront with him the whole time and told him when they drafted him that he would be working some as a receiver. He says he feels good about the whole situation.
“I feel like Coach knows what’s he’s doing and I think it’s going to work out well,” Etienne said.
Etienne caught 102 passes for 1,155 and eight receiving touchdowns in his Clemson career, including 48 receptions for 588 yards and two touchdowns in 2020.
Lawrence told ESPN, he is glad to see Etienne getting those wide receiver reps in rookie minicamp because he knows it will pay off later for the Jags.
“He’s just a dynamic player. He can do a lot of different things but that’s something that he’s not very used to,” the former Tiger said. “At Clemson he was pretty much in the backfield all the time. He ran a lot of routes out of the backfield, but splitting out wide is something he hasn’t done a lot.
“It’s cool seeing him out there, working, learning something new. Just to see the improvements he makes every day is really cool.”
And do not worry, the Jaguars still expect to hand the football to Etienne as well. Why wouldn’t they? He averaged a school record 7.2 yards per carry in his four years at Clemson.
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