While Trevor Lawrence’s selection was the most noteworthy for the Jacksonville Jaguars in last week’s draft, it would be very difficult to find a fan who didn’t believe that the addition of his Clemson teammate, Travis Etienne, wasn’t a huge deal either.
While many fans didn’t expect the Jags to go with the Clemson speedster at pick No. 25, there is no doubt those same fans can see his potential. His former offensive coordinator from Clemson, Tony Elliott, can also be counted amongst the group who has high hopes for Etienne.
In an interview with Jaguars.com, Elliott expressed that he believes the best is yet to come for Etienne, who was an amazing player in college, but was just scratching the surface as a football player.
“What makes Travis special is he really doesn’t fully comprehend how good he is,” Elliott said to Jaguars.com this week. “It keeps him humble; it keeps him working. I’m amazed at some of the things he’s able to do on a football field. I can see the potential he still has ahead of him.
“There’s still more room before he reaches his ceiling.”
While with Elliott, Etienne was beyond productive and put up historic numbers for the Atlantic Coast Conference from a positional perspective. When his career with the Tigers was over, Etienne found himself with a whopping total of 70 touchdowns throughout 686 carries for 4,952 yards on the ground.
Now, with him joining an offense that ranked 28th overall, Urban Meyer has been vocal about turning Etienne into an all-around weapon, especially one who can contribute in the passing game. The reason the team seems to be high on that element of Etienne’s game is that he showed improvement in the category year after year, eventually finishing his career with 1,155 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches.
However, despite those figures, Elliot stated that Etienne had to learn how to be a receiving threat at first, as it wasn’t something he was asked to do in high school.
“He was in a Wing-T offense in high school, and he was hardly ever asked to catch the ball coming out of the backfield,” Elliott said”. He didn’t have a strong skill set. He was very natural catching the ball, but not a ton of confidence because he was never asked to do it. That showed when he got here.”
Clearly, Etienne figured it out, acquiring receiving totals of 432 yards and 588 yards during his last two seasons with the Tigers. That said, if he can continue to elevate his game there, while also continuing his production as a rusher, the Jags’ offense could reach new heights in 2021.