One of Trevor Lawrence’s worst plays in No. 1 Clemson’s season-opening win over Georgia Tech on Thursday at Death Valley perhaps ended up being one of his best plays of the night.
With the Tigers leading 21-0 midway through the second quarter, a pass from Lawrence was intercepted by Yellow Jackets cornerback Tre Swilling at the Clemson 43-yard line. Swilling picked off the ball near the numbers and had a clear path to the end zone.
Lawrence easily could have stood there and watched Swilling run untouched into the end zone for a pick-six that would have cut Georgia Tech’s deficit to two scores and given the team some life. Instead, the sophomore quarterback took an angle toward Swilling at full speed, chased him down along the sideline, lowered his shoulder and delivered a hit that knocked Swilling out of bounds at the 2-yard line.
There were a lot of people on Clemson’s sideline, players and coaches alike, who appreciated Lawrence’s hustle and never-give-up attitude – including defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
“What a fantastic play by Trevor, the effort to get him out of bounds,” Venables said following the game. “Man, that’s a winner right there.”
Like Lawrence, Venables’ defense responded to adversity and kept the Jackets from scoring. Tech had four chances to punch the ball in from the goal line, but the Tigers made a stand.
After three rushing attempts by Georgia Tech netted only 1 yard, safety Denzel Johnson intercepted a pass from quarterback Tobias Oliver to end the Jackets’ threat.
Clemson went on to shut out Georgia Tech for the remainder of the first half in the eventual 52-14 rout. Overall, the Yellow Jackets were 0-for-2 on fourth-down conversion attempts in the game.
“Regardless of who you’re playing at any level of football — you’ve got four downs at the 2-yard line and you get a stop and create a turnover there, that’s big time,” Venables said. “You grow from that and really learn from that, build confidence, all those things and kind of develop an identity. We had a couple of fourth-down plays, another one that’s half-inch against a bunch of guys that were recruited to run the football at Georgia Tech, and our guys stoned them. I’m really proud.”
Head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game that Lawrence showed “the heart of a champion” on that play, and Venables agreed.
“That’s what a champion does — play every play to a standard,” Venables. “In life it’s not what happens, it’s how you respond, and what a great example that was. He throws a pick, and again, he responded the right way. Great example for all of our guys to never give up on a play.”
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