close
close

Jacksonville Jaguars Trevor Lawrence shares special story with Tua Tagovailoa

January 7, 2019.

Could have been ages ago. The last calendar year before COVID. The NFL was still playing a 16-game season. The first NIL legislation would be months away from being implemented. “Transfer portal” was not part of the colloquial language in college football.

Trevor Lawrence, quarterback of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was just 19 years old and led the No. 2 ranked Clemson Tigers into Levi Stadium to play against the reigning champion and No. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide for the national College Football Playoff championship.

The Tide were led by Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins, the hero of the national championship game in recent years. The Tigers and Crimson Tide had found themselves in that position twice in the last three seasons. Alabama was in its fourth consecutive national championship game.

The first time the Tigers and Crimson Tide met was in the 2016 edition. The Tide won a thrilling 45-40 game. The next season, the Tigers won 35-31 thanks to Deshaun Watson's heroics at the end of the game. This would be the deciding game.

The tie-breaker would not be on the line as it had been in the previous two encounters. It was the night of Lawrence's coronation, his “star is born” moment.

Lawrence completed 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns, tearing apart the Crimson Tide's star-studded defense (led by first-round defensive tackle and current All-Pro Quinnen Williams) en route to a 44-16 victory and a perfect 15-0 season.

Notable was the performance of the Tigers' running back and current Jaguars feature back, Travis Etienne Jr., who ran 86 yards and scored two touchdowns on 14 carries that night.

But a 19-year-old freshman quarterback tearing apart Nick Saban's defense on the biggest stage of all? That was enough for the media to name the next unmissable NFL quarterback candidate. One in the tradition of John Elway and Andrew Luck.

The next time the two met was two years later in London, England. Lawrence was a rookie who was selected first overall and Tagovailoa was in his second season. In their second meeting, they played on teams that had a very different track record than their college teams.

Lawrence won the return match 23-20, improving his score against Tagovailoa to 2-0. Now Lawrence and Tagovailoa will meet again on Sunday to open the 2024 season. For the third time, both will play on teams that are on different terrain than the first two.

The first time they met they played against powerhouses. The second time they met they played against bottom-of-the-table teams. The third time they met they played against teams with many weaknesses but a lot of potential. The Jaguars and Dolphins are not considered Super Bowl contenders, but they are both playoff-caliber teams.

Sunday will decide whether Lawrence improves his record to 3-0 or whether Tagovailoa can finally beat the Jaguars star.

Follow us on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI to never miss a breaking news story again.

Please let us know what you think by liking our Facebook page BY CLICKING HERE.

You may also like...