Lawrence heads new quarterback class at NFL draft
College gridiron prodigy Trevor Lawrence heads a new generation of quarterbacks expected to dominate the top picks when the 2021 NFL Draft gets underway in Cleveland on Thursday.
A year after Covid-19 forced National Football League chiefs to stage the 2020 Draft virtually, the annual selection of top college talent returns to its more familiar in-person format.
Three days of festivities will take place at locations across Cleveland, with draft picks announced and introduced on a stage set against the backdrop of Lake Erie.
Thursday's first round gets underway at 5pm local time (2100 GMT), where barring a monumental surprise, the Jacksonville Jaguars will recruit former Clemson quarterback Lawrence with the top pick.
The 21-year-old is widely seen as one of the most talented college quarterbacks to emerge in decades, already being mentioned in the same breath as NFL icons such as Peyton Manning and John Elway.
At 6ft 6in (1.98m) and 220 pounds (100kg), the long-haired Lawrence has physical presence allied to a skill set that includes a powerful arm, rare deep-ball accuracy and poise in the pocket.
Those attributes helped Lawrence lead Clemson to a national championship during his freshman season in 2018, the highpoint of a college career that included 34 wins and only two defeats.
The prospect of the Jaguars landing Lawrence with the No.1 pick was enough to persuade legendary college coach Urban Meyer to cut short his retirement to enter the NFL with Jacksonville.
Meyer said Lawrence's down-to-earth demeanor had already made a strong impression, noting that the young quarterback preferred to watch the draft with a small group of friends and family on Thursday, eschewing the glitz and glamour of the Cleveland festivities.
- 'Refreshing' focus -
"All he ever talks about is winning," Meyer told ESPN. "All he ever talks about is getting better. "It's not social media following -- he's not even going to the NFL Draft. There's not a whole lot other in his life than his faith and his family. I'm intrigued by that.
"I've talked to many of his players on his team, obviously his coaches, but I always like to ask players too. Especially at that position. And you have to be a leader and you have to be respected or quarterbacks will fail.
"And he checked those boxes with big black check marks in his boxes. He is respected by his teammates and just his focus in his life is really refreshing."
With the No.1 pick all but locked in, the most intrigue in the draft surrounds the remaining top selections.
The New York Jets own the second overall pick and are tipped to draft Brigham Young University quarterback Zach Wilson to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Sam Darnold earlier this month.
The San Francisco 49ers meanwhile are also expected to opt for a quarterback with the No.3 slot, a decision that has raised questions about the future of Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the team to a Super Bowl appearance in the 2019-2020 season.
Although head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly wants Thursday's draft pick to work as a back-up, he declined to guarantee whether Garoppolo would remain on the 49ers roster by the end of the week.
"I can't guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can't guarantee you who will be on our roster on Sunday," Shanahan said. "So, that goes for all of us."
The 49ers coach refused to give any clue however as to which young quarterback the team were most interested in, with Alabama's Mac Jones, North Dakota State's Trey Lance and Ohio State's Justin Fields all in the running.
"Do we know exactly who we want?" Shanahan said. "Maybe. Probably. But maybe not. I don't feel like we need to say that."
