Trevor Lawrence

Lawrence is the era's pre-ordained quarterback — the blue-chip-of-blue-chips who arrived in Clemson in 2018, took the starting job from Kelly Bryant by week six, and won the national title against Alabama in Santa Clara 44-16 as a true freshman. The 25-2 record across 2018-2019 was the most dominant two-year run by a quarterback in the era. The 2020 season — 10-1 in the regular season, a positive COVID test that cost him the Notre Dame ACC Championship rematch, the Sugar Bowl loss to Ohio State that ended his college career on a sour down — undersold the body of work, and the two NFL championship-game appearances since don't change what the Clemson years were. He is the closest thing the era has to an Andrew Luck: the prospect every other team's war room treated as a season-long argument-ender.