Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields played high school football roughly twenty miles apart. After routinely torching one high school defense after another, both shot up the recruiting rankings, eventually becoming the top two quarterbacks of the 2018 recruiting class.
They are now entering their third seasons playing college football, and are the favorites to be the number one overall pick of next years NFL Draft. Lawrence vs Fields will be one of the top storylines to watch as the season unfolds.
“It’s the most basic, boiled-down launching point for any conversation about college football in 2020, enhanced by the instant-classic Fiesta Bowl semifinal between their two teams in 2019. The “who ya got?” factor extends across several major realms: the Heisman Trophy, the national championship, he No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Fans, media, fantasy draft gurus and anyone else with a six-foot reach to the sport of football is interested to see how these two quarterbacks fare in 2020 and will have an opinion on who has the edge over the other.”
CBS Sports
Lawrence was a superstar before he ever took his first snap at Clemson, while FIleds sat behind Jake Fromm at Georgia for a season. He had to transfer to Ohio State before he would finally get a shot at proving himself, and prove himself he did.
Leading Ohio State to the College Football Playoff, he threw 41 touchdowns to just three interceptions, while completing 67% of his passes. Ironically, two of those picks came against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl, as Lawrence and the Tigers bested Fields and the Buckeyes 29-23.
Lawrence, on the other hand, struggled coming out of the gate in 2019. After being nearly flawless as a freshman, Lawrence had a seven-game stretch where he went 57-of-120 for 929 yards, nine touchdowns and seven interceptions on dropback passes. Not exactly elite level numbers. However, he was as good as anyone over the second half of the season, including LSU’s Joe Burrow.
Make no mistake, Fields is fantastic. He isn’t Trevor Lawrence though, especially on the throws that count.
By the time next April rolls around, it is very likely that Lawrence and Fields will be the first two off of the board, and it is pretty obvious which one should hear their name called first.
2021 NFL Draft First Overall Pick Odds (Bet Online Sportsbook)
- Trevor Lawrence, -300
- Penei Sewell, +400
- Justin Fields, +500
- D’Eriq King, +2000
- Kenneth Gainwell, +2500
- Micah Parsons, +2500
- Trey Lance, +2500
