Travis Etienne stiff-arms 2020 NFL Draft to return to Clemson, but can he be a first-rounder in 2021?

Clemson running back Travis Etienne is returning to school for his senior year and will bypass the 2020 NFL Draft, but can he be a first-rounder in 2021?

Clemson is going to be pretty good next year.

Dabo Swinney won’t have a bigger recruit this year than convincing running back Travis Etienne to return for his senior season. Etienne made the announcement he’ll return for his final season on Twitter, on the deadline day for underclassmen to declare for the draft.

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Etienne would skip his senior season and enter the draft after all he’d accomplished in his three years. Etienne broke Raymond Priester‘s Clemson record for career rushing yards in the National Championship Game loss to LSU and was viewed as a likely second round pick in April’s draft.

Now, he’ll be spending his spring getting ready to win a second national championship instead of preparing for the combine, pro day and which suit to wear to the draft when a team makes him an instant multi-millionaire.

Etienne’s return to Clemson doesn’t do a whole lot to improve Clemson’s odds of winning the national championship. It’s not a slight on Etienne, it’s just that Clemson is already the favorite to win the title, so his return makes them a stronger bet to win their second title in three years and third in five years.

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is already returning since he’s only going to be a rising junior and still a year away from being draft-eligible. Clemson enters the 2020 season with the unquestioned top backfield in college football and two of the leading candidates to win the Heisman Trophy.

Don’t be surprised if Clemson does what Ohio State did last year and have two teammates who are at the Heisman ceremony in New York in early December.

Etienne ran for 1,614 yards and had 19 touchdowns as a junior. He had 1,658 and a nation’s best 24 touchdowns as a sophomore in Clemson’s national championship season in 2018.

He has 4,038 career rushing yards and 56 touchdowns.

Etienne’s decision is obviously great news for Clemson fans. But it’s a puzzling decision considering what he had accomplished and the short shelf life for running backs. Etienne joins Alabama’s Najee Harris as likely Day 2 picks who returned to school rather than cash in and join the NFL now. But Etienne isn’t a finished product either.

The return to school may boost Etienne into the first round in 2021 if he shows he can be a bigger factor in the passing game, both as a receiver and in pass protection. If he can’t be a weapon out of the backfield or in the slot as a receiver and he can’t pick up blitzes and pass block, he won’t be a three-down back in the NFL and therefore will limit his draft value.

Etienne did make a big improvement as a receiver as a junior, catching 37 passes for 432 yards and four touchdowns. This was a massive increase in production from his 12 catches for 78 yards and two scores as a sophomore. If Etienne can make another similar improvement in this phase of the game, it might be enough to crack the first round, despite the added mileage on his body.

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