COVID-19 Free, Trevor Lawrence is Ready to Get Back to Work For Clemson

Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence expects to be back on the practice field for the Tigers this week after missing the last two games because of the coronavirus.

Trevor Lawrence is back..sort of.

The Clemson quarterback said Monday he expects to be on the practice field when the No. 4 Tigers look to get over Saturday's 47-40 loss to No. 2 Notre Dame, but he'll "ease" into things and isn't 100 percent sure what all the trainers will allow him to do since recovering from COVID-19. 

Lawrence missed the Notre Dame game and the week before against Boston College after he contracted the coronavirus and tested positive two days before Clemson (7-1) played the Eagles.  

The junior from Cartersville, Ga., who watched last Saturday's loss from the sideline with his teammates, said he's feeling healthy and ready to prepare for the Nov. 21 game at Florida State. 

"I'm feeling good," Lawrence said. "I'm feeling normal. No more symptoms, really. Taste and smell are a little bit weird, but I feel great. 

"It was definitely tough being on the sideline and not being able to play but I'd rather be there than be at home watch it and just, you know, any support I can offer, any extra set of eyes whatever it was some, some help for D.J. (Uiagalelei), whatever it may be. I was just glad I was there to be a part of it and just do the team, obviously didn't go our way but wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Lawrence says he will likely have to "ease" back into practice in the early part of this week. Even though he was out of quarantine before the Tigers played the Irish, he wasn't allowed to play because the COVID-19 protocol dictated multiple post-recovery tests, including cardiac. 

Lawrence began feeling some symptoms the Monday before the Oct. 31 game against Boston College, but he assumed it was a cold or allergies. By Thursday, those feelings increased into more flu-like symptoms, and he found out that morning that he had tested positive. Those issues continued Friday, but by that Saturday of the BC game, he was beginning to feel better. 

"I felt good, started feeling better every day and was back to normal pretty quickly," Lawrence said. "But it was probably about two days of feeling pretty bad."

He was able to do some physical work on his own but was not allowed to be around the team or at the facility for 10 days. Still, he said he felt like he could've played against Notre Dame, even though he certainly had concerns when he first came down with the coronavirus. 

"I think there's a little bit of concern just because the virus, you know there's a small chance it could have some lingering effects and could be bad so I mean there's a little bit of that," Lawrence said. "For the most part I felt I felt good. I just did what our trainers here told me to do, took some medicines and vitamins all that stuff to try to get back to normal as quickly as possible and it worked. Thankfully, I'm still healthy and feeling good, but yeah, there's a little bit of concern just because of the nature of the virus."