Trevor Lawrence came into the season as 1 of, if not the favorite, to win the Heisman Trophy.

After a sizzling start to the season, Lawrence seemed well poised to bring Clemson it’s 1st ever Heisman. However, after a 5 week layoff that started with a positive covid-19 test, his chances of winning have decreased dramatically.

However, Dabo Swinney said Lawrence doesn’t need any award to prove his worth. The Tigers’ head coach has no doubts when it comes to who the best player in the country is.

“The best player in the country is Trevor Lawrence,” Swinney said. “I mean I don’t really care what anybody says and there’s a lot of great players out there, but the best player in the country is Trevor Lawrence. He doesn’t need to win the Heisman for that to be the case.”

Swinney said if the coaching staff wanted to ensure that Lawrence would win the award, that is something they could easily do. That isn’t what the Clemson program is about though.

“If our goal was for him to win the Heisman, he’d be leading for the Heisman right now. No doubt about that. But you know that’s not our goal. Our goal is to just to win the game.”

Lawrence playing on a team that has been so dominant does not help his case. As Swinney noted, the award has become as much about a players stats than anything else.

“He’s only played in like 20 of his 37 fourth quarters,” Swinney said. “He’s been on a dominant football team. We’ve won more games the last five years than anybody in the history of college football. He’s been a dominant player. And unfortunately the Heisman is a lot about stats.”

Swinney has built a program in which team goals will always be the priority. While there is no doubt the Tigers head coach would love to add a

Heisman to the teams trophy case, he says that they will never sacrifice what is best for the team.

Lawrence, wide receiver Cornell Powell and cornerback Mario Goodrich received Player of the Week honors following the 52-17 win over Pittsburgh.

Lawrence completed 26-37 passes for 403 yards and 2 touchdowns, improving to 32-1 as a starter to tie Rodney Williams, Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson for the school record for wins as a starting quarterback. He also earned his 4th ACC Quarterback of the Week selection this season. Including Rookie of the Week honors earned in 2018, Lawrence now has 11 career ACC weeky honors, tying Sammy Watkins for the most all-time by a Tiger.

Powell was named ACC Receiver of the Week after catching 6 passses for a career-high 176 receiving yards. Goodrich was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week after 2 interceptions. Saturday’s game will air at 7:30 pm on ABC and 93.1 FM The Lake.