Despite playing well in his six starts for Clemson this season, quarterback Trevor Lawrence is no longer the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this season, according to ESPN.
Though the odds are slightly different depending on the sportsbook, Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields are now both favored to win the Heisman over Lawrence.
The odds-on favorite to win the award before the season and the presumptive No. 1 pick in the next NFL draft, Lawrence missed Saturday’s game against unranked Boston College after testing positive for COVID-19 and has already been ruled out for this week’s game at No. 4 Notre Dame.
The junior quarterback, who expressed some uncertainty about leaving school for the draft last month, has completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 1,833 yards with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions this season.
Without Lawrence under center, the Tigers were able to beat Boston College 34-28. The Tigers were favored to win by more than 20 points so the six-point margin of victory speaks to how much Clemson missed their star signal-caller.
D.J. Uiagalelei started for the Tigers in Lawrence’s absence and is expected to start again at Notre Dame this week.
As part of the ACC’s return-to-play protocols, Lawrence must pass a series of cardiac exams before getting back on the field and there simply won’t be enough time to pass all the tests in time for Saturday’s game against the Fighting Irish, according to Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
“You have to ramp back up, even if he feels great, he could probably go play, he’s not allowed to do that simply because of the protocols,” Swinney said. “They’re put in place to make sure he could return to play safely. You have 10 days, and then you have the cardiac part, so he won’t be able to get through that in time to play next week.”
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