One of the top high-school football players ever produced in Georgia, Trevor Lawrence made his official introduction to the NFL on Thursday night.
Clemson’s star quarterback, seen as a generational talent on par with Hall of Famers John Elway and Peyton Manning and four-time Pro Bowler Andrew Luck, was the first overall selection of the NFL draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars, a status that had seemed preordained since 2018, when he led the Tigers to the national championship as a freshman out of Cartersville High.
Lawrence is believed to be the third player to play his high-school football in the state of Georgia to become the first overall pick, following running back George Rogers (1981, Duluth High) and quarterback Cam Newton (2011, Westlake High).
Wearing what appeared to be an olive suit and white T-shirt, Lawrence watched the draft from a home in Seneca, S.C., nearby Clemson. With ESPN cameras on him, Lawrence, sharing a couch with his new bride, Marissa, and his family, Lawrence exchanged hugs before circulating through the adjoining kitchen for more hugs.
It was a moment of delight and pride for Cartersville, a city of about 22,000 in northwest Georgia. Far beyond his football exploits, Lawrence has been celebrated and loved by Cartersville residents for the humility and grace with which he has handled his rock-star status.
“He’s so ‘rootable’ because of the person he is off the field in addition to how fantastic he is on the field,” said mayor Matt Santini, who has been the radio play-by-play man for Purple Hurricanes games since 1999. “It’s been, by and large, a very unifying and prideful thing. They’re taking a great deal of pride in the fact that Trevor Lawrence is from here and very happy for the success that he’s had and that he’s about to have.”
At Cartersville, Lawrence earned the starting job as a freshman and over the next four seasons led the Purple Hurricanes to a 52-2 record as a starter, including two state titles. Sellout games at Weinman Stadium were standard.
“You saw kids around town wearing purple No. 16 jerseys,” Santini said earlier this week. “Then in the last three years, it’s transitioned to orange No. 16 jerseys. And I would guess probably by the end of this week, we’ll probably have a bunch of teal No. 16 jerseys.”
In Cartersville – about 45 miles up I-75 from downtown Atlanta – the pride was practically palpable. At Agan’s Bakery on Main Street in the downtown area, it was also edible. Cookies in the shapes of football helmets, footballs and jerseys – all decorated with Lawrence’s No. 16 – have been hot sellers. (The bakery’s gingerbread cookies have achieved local fame and are a favorite item of the Lawrence family, store owner Abbey Ross reported.)
Outside the bakery, the pride also was visible. A mural depicting Lawrence went up recently on the side of the bakery, part of a marketing campaign by speaker and headphone maker Bose. (Similar paintings went up in Kennesaw for Ohio State’s Justin Fields, a Harrison High grad, and in Provo, Utah, for BYU quarterback Zach Wilson.)
“He’s an outstanding individual,” Ross said. “He’s an incredible athlete. He comes from a great family. He’s just someone that I feel like we would want our kids to look up to.”
And perhaps also purchase in cookie form.
“That is the million-dollar question,” Ross said. “I’ve gotten a lot of requests for a Trevor Lawrence cookie. I’ve got a few things I’m working on right now.”
An invited guest to Lawrence’s draft party, Scott Holder was expecting to be losing his most famous customer. A barber at Hair Techniques salon in Cartersville, Holder has tended to college football’s most famous hair since Lawrence chose to grow out his buzzcut in ninth grade. Holder continued to give Lawrence’s flowing tresses periodic trims once he left for Clemson.
But, with him moving farther away, Holder said he would be surprised if Lawrence made a point of keeping him as his barber. As recognizable as Lawrence’s hairdo is, Holder said, it isn’t as though he’s caught up in it.
“He is probably one of the least vain people that you could be around,” Holder said. “He’s always diverting attention to other people.”
Holder is more than a barber but a family friend.
“The way he’s walked all this out, and the way he’s been such a positive role model, I don’t think you would find anyone that was not happy for him,” Holder said.
One of those people is Ronnie Brown, the former Auburn star running back who himself is a former Purple Hurricane. Brown, in fact, was the No. 2 overall pick of the 2005 draft to the Miami Dolphins. The Lawrence-Brown 1-2 punch gives Cartersville some substantial clout in high-school football circles both in the state and nationwide.
Earlier this week, Brown wrote a note of congratulations and luck to Lawrence on his Facebook page, a message that quickly circulated through Cartersville.
“I pray that he continues to shine a bright light on our little town in NW Georgia as I feel and have always felt that we have some of the best talent in the state,” Brown wrote. “May the wind be at your back and beneath your wings as you blaze your professional career, Mr. Lawrence. Congratulations and best of luck. #GoCanes.”
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