Clemson may have picked up a hard-earned win at home on Saturday against Syracuse, but at what cost? Freshly name starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence was knocked out of the game in the second quarter after taking a hit t the head as he was running down the sideline and fighting for extra yards, but Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney seemed relatively upbeat about the condition of his freshman quarterback when reflecting on the game on Sunday. Despite the seemingly encouraging reaction the day after the game, Swinney will have no choice but to wait to hear from the medical experts before knowing if Lawrence will be available for Clemson’s next game
“He actually was really good, he was trying to come back in the game yesterday but anytime you get anything with the head and neck area, there’s just no room for error there,” Swinney said, according to Clemson Sports Talk. “So they shut him down and he actually was really good after the game and he was very good this morning, felt great. I think they were very encouraged by what they saw. He’s going to work out and they’ll continue to evaluate him and hopefully will see. But will go with what we got. Based on what they said I would expect that, but that’s all up to those guys.”
Chase Brice, who was the team’s third-string quarterback a week ago, entered Saturday’s game in place of the injured Lawrence. The Tigers relied more on the running game and defense to rally against Syracuse for the win, but Brice ended up making some big-time plays late in the game to help the cause as well after a sluggish start off the bench. Kelly Bryant announced his decision to transfer last week after learning Lawrence would be the team’s starter moving forward.
Clemson plays at Wake Forest this Saturday and then has a bye week before returning home to play NC State in a key ACC Atlantic Division game.