A quick thread on Trevor Lawrence & why his words matter in a time like this…

About this time last year, I talked at length w/Trevor for a story. Easy pitch: Here's the most NFL-ready college QB in forever, and he was just a freshman. What was left for him to prove in college?

I'd found Trevor to be very smart and polite in covering him as a freshman, but he was also "smart" enough not to provide much red meat for the media. He said the "right" things and not a lot else. So my expectations for this story were minimal.

Instead, what I found was an incredibly introspective guy -- a teenager wrestling with all the same "what does it all mean?" questions that we all wrestle with at some point, only he was doing it under an incredible spotlight as the sport's most famous player.

I found later that he'd been through a ton his freshman season away from the field -- reconnecting w/his faith, w/his girlfriend... finding some comfort in a place that felt very uncomfortable when he first arrived. But that was later. This conversation was about big questions.

From the story:
"I feel like it's so easy to waste this time and platform we have. It comes so fast, and you're not expecting it."

"That's the big thing for me is really figuring out what I'm passionate about. What do I want the next step to look like?"

More:
"You look at [a lot of] the guys in the NFL, it seems like it is their whole life, where every minute of the day is dedicated to football. And I don't want that to be me."

Here's the story if you want to read it: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/26847097/trevor-lawrence-most-nfl-ready-sophomore-ever-now-what

So to see Trevor during the past few months setting up a fund to help folks affected by Covid-19, and take to Twitter with strong comments about race in the wake of George Floyd's death... I'm genuinely happy he's found ways to use the platform he's been given.

Now... here's the real point. I don't want to take Trevor's comments about race as an opportunity to lionize the successful, white QB. That, I know, is part of the problem. His voice matters because of that platform, but plenty of others are speaking out, too.

What I've seen the past 48 hours is FAR more engagement on race & politics & society from CFB players than I can ever remember, and that's such a needed change - not just for this moment, but moving forward in a sport that has had a massive power structure imbalance for too long.

We're in the midst of a deadly pandemic & well-paid coaches/admin get to decide how much risk is acceptable for unpaid players. The NCAA, P5 & politicians debate how players can profit from their own name & likeness. The NCAA kicks the can on transfer rules & players wait.

I remember talking to FSU’s Marvin Wilson last year about NIL. His answer was succinct: “I don’t think about it because it’ll never happen.” Their experience is so fraught that most know it’s not worth the fight. That’s a damn shame.

There is an incredible amount of pressure on these guys to stay quiet, accept their fate, defer to the "grown-ups" at all times, not rock the boat & draw unnecessary attention, not deviate from TEAM in order to express themselves. It's true a lot of places, but CFB most of all.

But their voices are crucial if we want to achieve real change. The impact they can have is immense. The “grown ups” might ignore them, but the next generation of grown ups are listening & the next generation of CFB athletes will follow their lead.

Coaches talk all the time about building men, creating leaders. Well, grown men, true leaders -- they use their platform to make things better. They speak up.

When Will Muschamp says he doesn’t know it’s election day, that’s reflecting a culture of football-first & only. I’m picking on Muschamp, but this is not unique. What if, instead, it was impressed upon guys that they CAN and SHOULD be engaged beyond the field?

If Trevor Lawrence was sitting at home last year asking these big questions, how many others were doing the same w/o that same power, platform & support to actually find answers? All these guys deserve to be empowered, not controlled by fear, by legislation or by peer pressure.

Trevor Lawrence's voice isn't the most important one right now, but it's among the most visible in college sports. So when he uses his platform like this, I hope it's an entry point for many other college athletes to feel they can do the same. That would be real change.