Travis Etienne’s Heisman campaign has one big problem: Trevor Lawrence

Clemson running back Travis Etienne has a resume and the numbers to keep him in the race, but stealing the spotlight from his teammate Trevor Lawrence is another story.

A resume that includes being a two-time conference offensive player of the year and a program’s all-time leader in rushing yards would seem to have Heisman Trophy contender written all over it. Add in spurning the NFL to return for a senior season and it’s tailor-made for a run at being the nation’s most outstanding player.

Travis Etienne stands out, no doubt. But what’s limiting the Clemson running back isn’t his production, his team success or name recognition.

Etienne’s case comes with one big problem: Trevor Lawrence.

The Tigers running back currently holds the 10th-best odds per OddsShark at +2800, putting him behind a wide receiver (Alabama’s Jaylen Waddle at +1400), a quarterback on a two-loss team in Texas’ Sam Ehlinger (+2500) and another runner (Ohio State’s Trey Sermon at +2500) on a team with another front-runner (Justin Fields). If he were on any other team, especially a top-ranked one, Etienne at a minimum be the top running back on everyone’s shortlist, and potentially the No. 1 contender.

Instead, he’s toiling in the long-shot territory with his quarterback, Lawrence, topping the board at +350.

It was inevitable when Etienne returned for his final season that he’d be playing second to Lawrence — the biggest star in the college football landscape — but don’t discount the notion that a running back could find a way to steal his quarterback’s thunder in this race.

In fact, it’s been the norm.

Teammates competing for the Heisman Trophy isn’t uncommon

Since 1946, there have been 38 instances of teammates finishing in the top 10 in voting, and its happened in three of the last four seasons with Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook in 2016; Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Quinnen Williams in ’18 and two teams pulled it off last season, in Ohio State (Fields, Chase Young and J.K. Dobbins) and Clemson (Lawrence and Etienne).

Among those cases, 16 times they included a running back and a quarterback, and 13 times the runner finished ahead of the passer, with four of them — USC’s Charles White in 1979, Nebraska’s Mike Rozier in 1983, Ohio State’s Eddie George in 1995 and USC’s Reggie Bush in the since-vacated 2005 vote — winning the award.

Those running backs outdid their quarterbacks with overwhelmingly, and often historically better seasons. White had just the second 2,000-yard season in 1979 to beat out Paul McDonald (sixth), Rozier also hit that same mark in ’83 to win over Turner Gil (fourth) and George set a Buckeyes single-season rushing record in taking the win while Bobby Hoying was 10th. Bush didn’t rewrite the record books in ’05, but he was a weekly highlight reel waiting to happen in besting Matt Leinart.

There are certainly parallels with that USC backfield and Etienne and Lawrence, with the Tigers tandem making up arguably the most star-studded backfield since those Trojans, but it’s a comparison that may not be entirely fair to either side.

For one, Etienne isn’t dealing with having the defending winner on his team, like Bush did when Matt Leinart came back to chase another national championship and another Heisman, a fool’s errand post-Archie Griffin, with follow-up campaigns wrought with stigmas. Bush was a generational star in a season of iconic plays, but he did benefit from Leinart playing from behind before the season started from a historical perspective. Lawrence certainly isn’t in that situation.

There’s also shades of Ken Dorsey and Willis McGahee, with Dorsey coming back for his last season at Miami after winning a national title and already holding the program’s career passing touchdowns record. But Dorsey wasn’t the Heisman favorite heading into 2002, a distinction that belonged to Florida’s Rex Grossman, with the Hurricane coming in second.

Etienne’s situation may somehow be even more difficult to overcome and the full attention of voters more difficult to come by.

Lawrence has already led Clemson to one national championship as a freshman, on the precipice of another in his second season before falling short, and as expected, has them very much in the running for another title this season. He’s the presumptive No. 1 pick in the next NFL draft and has been firmly in the spotlight since he took over the starting job in 2018, carrying the hype of being the top-ranked player in the Class of 2018. This season seemed to have only one logical ending where the Tigers were involved: Lawrence hoisting the Heisman.

How do you derail that? Make the case Etienne has been there every step of the way, but the pecking order in Clemson only drives home what matters in this age of prolific offenses.

Runners have become less and less of a factor where this trophy is concerned, with just two of the position’s 42 wins coming since 2000, and last season, both backfields with two players in the top 10 in voting saw those quarterbacks (third-place Fields and seventh-place Lawrence) finish ahead of their running backs (Dobbins in sixth and Etienne in ninth).

The two backs that have won this century, were of course both on Alabama teams that were centered around the run, literally paving the way for Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015), with passers that ranked 70th and 54th, respectively, in yards per game.

Etienne isn’t going to get that kind of focus in the Clemson offense, with the balanced Tigers ranking 14th in FBS in passing and 25th in rushing.

After rushing for 149 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries and catching eight passes for 74 yards in No. 1 Clemson’s 42-17 dismantling of then-No. 7 Miami last Saturday, Etienne is on pace for 2,043 all-purpose yards, with a potential ACC Championship Game included. He’s one of only two players — along with Virginia Tech’s Khalil Herbert – on pace to break 2,000 yards in this abbreviated season.

Lawrence has thrown for 1,140 yards through four games (10th nationally), a 285-yard average that ranks 14th, while throwing for 10 scores (fifth) and ranking sixth in pass efficiency (183.42). This decade, Heisman-winning quarterbacks have averaged just over 3,500 passing and 30 touchdowns, and Lawrence would be on that pace (over 3,600 and 33 scores) if this were a normal length season. As it is, he’s still trending toward 3,420 yards and 30 touchdowns with the potential of eight games to play before votes are due.

The numbers should be there, though statistics aren’t the bedrock of Lawrence’s candidacy. Clemson winning is, and so long as it continues its collision course with another spot in the College Football Playoff, Lawrence remains their most logical Heisman contender, barring some setback performances.

That’s in no way a takedown of Etienne. He’s well on his way to making it three straight seasons with at least one group of teammates in the top 10. He and Lawrence may well make Clemson the first team with multiple finalists since Oklahoma in 2016, and the fifth overall since players were first invited to the ceremony in 1982 (though with the leaked info that this year’s event will be virtual, the Heisman Trust may invite more players than normal to increase viewership).

Etienne will continue to have his place basking in the Heisman spotlight, but the lights are just going to keep shining a little brighter on his quarterback. He’s there should Lawrence falter, but as it stands, Most Outstanding isn’t in the cards, though there’s no better Guy-Behind-The-Guy in the game.

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