As much as Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence wants to win, it's secondary to his faith

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As much as Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence wants to win, it's secondary to his faith

Gene Frenette, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union · The Florida Times-Union

Thu, Sep 5, 2024 ·

15 min read

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As he embarks on his fourth NFL season, which coincides with possibly the highest advance expectations in Jacksonville Jaguars ' history, Trevor Lawrence is determined not to make the football stakes bigger than life.

No matter how much Lawrence wants to deliver a Lombardi trophy to a franchise that has never even played in a Super Bowl, he knows, important as that may be, it can never be his top priority.

The man long hyped as the greatest quarterback prospect since Andrew Luck has no intention of straying from the God-centered path he fully committed to six years ago, all as an 18-year-old freshman at Clemson in the leadup to its 2018 national championship season.

Whatever identity the outside world chooses to place on the Jaguars' $275 million quarterback pursuing football greatness, Lawrence's highest priority will remain on being a Christian who cares most about what God thinks of him.

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"It's something I really want to be known about me," Lawrence told the Times-Union in an exclusive sit-down interview. "I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for my faith or my relationship with Jesus.

"It's the biggest thing in my life. I know the peace that it's given me, especially in this crazy job that we have."

Not that Lawrence hasn't periodically talked about his faith in recent years, but there seemed to be a higher level of intensity last week when he sat down in a Jaguars meeting room and discussed his journey of self-discovery with impressive transparency.

From leaving home for the first time to enroll early at Clemson in January 2018, to now being an expectant father after three years of marriage to wife, Marissa, the quarterback who begins a new season Sunday against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium revealed it wasn't always a smooth path to making faith his primary focus.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16), seen here kissing his wife Marissa after an August joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, admits that the couple having a brief separation during his freshman year at Clemson was helpful for them to deepen their relationship with God and each other.

Trevor, Marissa briefly went separate ways

Lawrence admittedly struggled with selfishness when his fame began skyrocketing during his last two years at Cartersville (Ga.) High, which impacted his relationship with Marissa and prompted several months of a breakup once he got to Clemson.

They had known each other since fifth grade, began dating as high school sophomores, but things reached a tipping point once Lawrence found himself in a different environment from where he grew up.

"The first time away from home, I feel like you have to kind of figure out who you are," said Trevor. "I was all over the place. Early on, I think I was a little bit more worried about what people thought of me. That was a big deal. Just going out, parties or going downtown a lot, that was part of my first college experience.

"I wouldn't say I went crazy, but obviously more than a high school kid being at home. I got a chance to have freedom and do things I wanted to do. After a while, I remember just feeling that's not the person I wanted to be.

"The groups I was hanging with, the people I was surrounding myself with, I remember feeling really unsettled about my life and the trajectory of where I was headed. I felt like my priorities were very out of line for what I want, so I think that's what started it."

While Marissa went to nearby Anderson University to play soccer, she and Trevor decided they needed time apart to figure out what they wanted and whether moving forward with their relationship was in both of their best interests.

"We had agreed to do this," said Trevor. "Full transparency, it's because of all the stuff we had been through. I was not a good boyfriend."

Marissa, who grew up in a pentecostal church in Marietta, Ga., elected to respond via email about her faith journey. She felt the three-month separation was necessary for them to get aligned as a couple.

"We both grew up in church and both had amazing parents that encouraged our faith, but at some point, you can't rely on them and have to find your own walk with God," Marissa wrote. "I think during our relationship, we were both trying in our own strength to put God first, but we just had some issues we needed to work through."

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Trying to find his true self

Lawrence acknowledged those first few months at Clemson were a huge adjustment. The freedom of being away from parents, Jeremy and Amanda, older brother Chase (an artist), younger sister Olivia and Marissa didn't lead him down a favorable path those first few months.

He had already recognized that being a high-profile quarterback throughout high school, both the adulation and public expectations that came with it, made Lawrence too me-centered and that took a toll.

"Just the way my football life was in high school, Marissa always had to take a back seat," said Lawrence. "The weird dynamic of it is it was always about me and what I wanted to do, like I didn't treat her great.

"There was a lot of struggles in our relationship when we were younger. A big reason this all happened was the unsettling feeling from that. We didn't know actually at first we were going to get back together. I knew I wanted to.

"I had felt like I didn't treat her right and I knew I loved her and wanted to be with her. But I was just too young, dumb and immature to make that decision before the faith part was really there."

Going their separate ways for a little while proved invaluable to deepening the bond between Trevor and Marissa. He doesn't mince words about the need back then for both him and Marissa to find the right spiritual place, which helped them get reunited on a permanent basis.

"That was a big, new experience for me that I had to navigate," said Lawrence.

Getting back on right path

In the spring of 2018, no pass Lawrence had ever completed proved to be a more impactful connection than forming a relationship with Dan Lian, one of the pastors at NewSpring Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., about 20 minutes from Clemson.

Lian has been as much a go-to spiritual advisor for Trevor and Marissa as anyone, considering he baptized the Jaguars' quarterback later that summer and was the officiating clergyman at their wedding on April 10, 2021 in Bluffton, S.C.

A native of Australia, the 48-year-old Lian has mentored dozens of college football players at various times on their spiritual journey. He had only been in the United States about a year when Lian received a midnight text message from Lawrence, whom he met briefly a couple times at the Clemson football facility.

Trevor Lawrence marries wife Marissa in April 2021, by close friend and pastor Dan Lian in Bluffton, South Carolina.

"He got my number from some teammates and was having like a crisis of conscience, of faith, and he wanted a process," said Lian. "We went to a Waffle House. We've had a lot of good Waffle House chats.

"We just started talking about life and what it means to have a relationship with God. A lot of young people have a framework of faith from their parents. But at some point in the journey, you have to own this and say, 'I'm going to develop a relationship with God.'

"He went through his life, relationships, school. He hadn't played a down for Clemson yet. Our early conversations were about who God is, how God feels about him and who God thinks he is. It was just about his identity. If there was a sense of crisis, it was connected to Trevor wanting to do things right."

Lawrence credits the guidance of Lian as one of the biggest influences in his and Marissa's faith development, which led to the couple eventually deepening their commitment to each other.

They began dating permanently again before Clemson's national title season ended, then got engaged when Trevor proposed on one knee in 2020 at Memorial Stadium.

Marissa Lawrence kisses then boyfriend, Trevor, after she accepted the quarterback's proposal at Clemson's Memorial Stadium in 2020.

"We wanted to have time apart to just work on ourselves and our faith and our walk with God, honestly," said Lawrence. "We both really made the decision to start, with our life, following Jesus. Yeah, we identified as Christians, but we wanted to live by it and make it a priority."

In July, 2018, Lawrence got baptized a second time by Lian, affirming the commitment he made during his early soul-searching process at Clemson.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is baptized by pastor Dan Lian at NewSpring Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, in July 2018.

But the Jaguars' quarterback also believes that without the spiritual foundation he had growing up from his parents at Tabernacle Baptist church in Cartersville, which included getting baptized at age 9, he might not have made his way back to the place of faith he now treasures so quickly.

"Definitely, my Mom and Dad, that's how I was raised, so I think it resonated with me quicker because of that," Trevor said. "I was brought up in the church. I knew all the right things.

"The work my parents did [in faith upbringing] wasn't in vain. It's not like all of a sudden, one day, it clicked and they had nothing to do with it."

Balancing faith and football

It was an adjustment for Lian to get used to how fervent college football fans in America were about their teams. He saw there were two religions in the South, saying it was "Jesus and college football, and sometimes not in that order."

After he baptized Lawrence, and the quarterback made some public statements about his faith commitment, Lian sensed there was some pushback.

"He learned his freshman year that you have to put your faith in something," said Lian. "I saw Trevor ground himself into what God thought about him. That cost him. Some people interpreted it that he's not all in with football."

Of course, the irony there is Lawrence led Clemson to a national title in his first season, which was preceded by him being the mega-star on two Cartersville state championship teams.

"Trevor is a very competitive person, he doesn't lose well," said Lian.

The truth is Lawrence refuses to let the football part of his life define him, no matter how much Jaguars fans or anybody else chooses to do so.

Nobody knows more than Lawrence that expectations in 2024 will rise because he's now the highest-paid NFL quarterback, tied with the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow at an average annual salary of $55 million.

"When God came into my life, that unsettled feeling about the way I lived and acted that came over me, that is really what has humbled me more than anything," Lawrence said. "And now, especially having success and making money, that really doesn't make me happy, it really doesn't. That's a huge part of my faith, too.

"It proves to me more and more every day that, one, my faith in Jesus and believing that there's something bigger in this world is what matters. I think that helps me more than anything."

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Lawrence is adamant about not letting the fame attached to the NFL life, his monster contract, or the fate of any Jaguars' season become the central part of his identity.

In the long run, Lian believes the attitude of staying grounded will better serve Lawrence and the Jaguars.

"I'm interested as anybody in watching Trevor play football, but I'm more interested in the man he's going to be, the husband for Marissa and father to his child," said Lian. "Remember, you can have a career like Tom Brady and your life is still only half over.

"What kind of man are you going to be? What kind of a husband and father? Trevor is off to a hot start that way. It's cool to see him keep God and faith as his main thing when he could let money and fame be the main thing."

Pressure to make football too big

That message to keep football in perspective has been reinforced to Lawrence many times, either in team Bible study or by various components of his Jacksonville faith community at different churches.

Jaguars teammate and Clemson alumnus Tyler Shatley , 33, who was released in the team's final cuts last week, has been a Trevor mentor in that respect.

"It helps Trevor and a lot of us because when you put your identity in [football], you're not going to get much out of it," said Shatley. "It's going to be empty every time.

"Having your identity in something bigger than football kind of helps you deal with the ups and down, levels it out a little bit. If this is all you have and all you're looking forward to, it can be very high highs and very low lows. You got to try to find a more steady foundation."

Marissa understands it's a continuous challenge to keep God front and center because of football's massive hold on the American sports culture.

"A big thing that helps is knowing that God is the only one worthy of our praise," said Marissa. "He is the only one worthy of glory and that helps keep us grounded, as well as feel normal, and still the same little kids that fell in love.

"Knowing that this life and fame is something He has trusted us with makes it seem like such an honor. It's something we fail at a lot, but ultimately all we want is to be able to be a light and glorify God with the things He's given us and fame is one of those platforms for us to do that.

"I'd say we navigate fame by choosing not to see it as fame, but as a platform and opportunity to put God on display."

With the couple expecting their first child (a girl) on Jan. 9, Trevor remains focused on leading the Jaguars to sustained success. He just doesn't want football as the end all of his existence.

Trevor and his wife Marissa already have two dogs, but are expecting their first child, a girl, in January.

"As I've gotten older, you realize nobody is perfect, so you can't hold people up on a pedestal," said Lawrence. "We're all trying to figure out the best way to do things. Being a young guy that wanted my faith to be the priority in my life, I didn't really know how to start that.

"I still want it to be known that faith is a huge thing in my life. But as you come into the NFL, everything changes a lot. It's easy for that [faith] to take a back seat to the rest of your life. Football feels like it's life or death every day. There's so much pressure on you. Not just myself, but everybody."

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Jaguars embrace a God-centered QB

NFL quarterbacks being vocal about their faith is by no means ground-breaking.

Current signal-callers Lamar Jackson ( Baltimore Ravens ), Patrick Mahomes ( Kansas City Chiefs ), Brock Purdy ( San Francisco 49ers ) and C.J. Stroud ( Houston Texans ) have been publicly outspoken on the topic, as well as retired Super Bowl-winning QBs Kurt Warner and Drew Brees .

People can debate how much that faith characteristic impacts winning, but the Jaguars have long been sold on it adding to Lawrence's fit for the franchise.

When they scouted him prior to the 2021 NFL Draft, it was no mystery how important God was in Lawrence's life. The Jaguars welcomed his faith component because they knew he was authentic about it being a priority.

"I think it factored into who the guy was as a person," said general manager Trent Baalke. "Not everybody of faith is a good person. In every aspect of his life, he's done right. That's just another sign of a really good person.

"Everybody's constantly searching and growing. There's always that come-to-Jesus meeting you have with yourself. Some people find it earlier than others. The light bulb comes on and that certainly happened for Trevor. He's lived his life that way and I'm sure he's happy to share that.

"We knew exactly what we were getting. We didn't get anything different than what we envisioned. Now he's got to write the rest of the book."

The way Lawrence has handled his first three NFL seasons — a disastrous rookie year under departed coach Urban Meyer, the six-game winning streak that culminated in a 27-point comeback AFC playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers , then last year's collapse from 8-3 to out of the postseason — is a testament to how he puts football and its societal impact in perspective.

Lian says in all his years of guiding athletes on their spiritual journey, he's never seen anyone deal with the public spotlight better.

"When you see how maturely he processed through all that, I think it's because he kept his faith central and his circle small," said Lian. "As far as someone with a deep foundation in God and doing good, Trevor is your guy.

"In my years of mentoring young men, he's an anomaly."

Make no mistake, Lawrence is committed to bringing a Super Bowl parade to Duuu-val. It's why he chose football as his profession.

But in the big picture, No. 16 is also mindful that all the wins and losses, all the money and fame, can never be bigger than the significance of his favorite Bible verse, Romans 8:28. It reads: "God works all things for the glory of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."

While the football world never stops judging NFL quarterbacks, the faith of Trevor Lawrence believes in letting everything ride on what the ultimate judge thinks.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com : (904) 359-450; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: For Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence, faith comes before football

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