In just one recruiting class in the history of the Rivals100, which dates back to 2002, have two quarterbacks topped the list as the No. 1 and No. 2 overall prospects. That year was 2018, and their names were Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.
The pair may have been ranked higher than most other quarterbacks in any class, but rarely have the two top quarterbacks in a given year both panned out as bona fide college football superstars and presumptive top NFL draft selections.
Ahead of their second-straight head-to-head matchup in the College Football Playoff, it’s impossible to ignore just how often the two find themselves competing against each other for one accolade or the next.
One would expect that competition to provoke quite a rivalry between the two before they’ve even made it to the pros, but not if you ask Lawrence.
“I haven’t really seen it as that, I’m not out here just competing against Justin,” Lawrence said Tuesday. “We’re friends, we’ve got a good relationship, but that’s kind of how people like to pin it as –– me against him.”
In fact, the pair actually worked together toward a common goal back in August. With the college football season hanging in the balance due to COVID-19 uncertainty, both star quarterbacks publicly campaigned to keep the rails on the tracks.
The Big Ten had already moved to postpone its football season though, prompting Fields to embark on a media tour promoting the #WeWantToPlay movement, a title that Fields attached to a petition for conference administrators to reinstate the season.
“I talked to Trevor not too long ago, Trevor Lawrence, about this movement, and it was really just a movement we wanted to get behind,” Fields told ESPN Radio on Aug. 18. "Kinda make college football unified and just get a big movement going so we just have one voice and we have one name.”
Lawrence admitted Tuesday that he didn’t do the heavy lifting when it came to organizing the movement, but that his platform certainly helped to spread the word more so than most other players would have been capable.
Both got their wish in the end, although Clemson enjoyed a much longer season in the ACC than Fields and company could in the Big Ten. Still, they’ve both made their way back to the CFP to find each other as their obstacle to a national title berth for the second-straight season.
Lawrence, from Cartersville, Georgia, has the edge in their lone collegiate head-to-head, as well as being the first of the two to win a national championship, and he’ll also likely be taken before Fields in the draft.
Fields, from Kennesaw, Georgia, beat Lawrence to New York to become the first of the pair to be named a Heisman finalist last season, and still has a chance to even the score when the Buckeyes meet Clemson on Friday.
“It’s a small world. He’s from right down the road from me, probably 20-30 minutes,” Lawrence said. “Just to be playing each other for the second time, and we’ve kind of been matched up for years going back to high school.”
Of course, whichever team does come out on top at the Sugar Bowl, the ultimate result will depend on much more than just Lawrence or Fields, and it’s far from guaranteed that whoever plays the better game individually will get the final edge.
There’s no doubt that it is the game within the game though, and even if there isn’t a contentious rivalry between the two quarterbacks, the oddity of their ongoing connection simply must be acknowledged.
“At the end of the day, it’s just fun getting the opportunity to play a team like Ohio State. Obviously huge brand, great team year in and year out, and to get the opportunity to play them is kind of what you expect in a semifinal –– to play the best of the best,” Lawrence said. “So we’re excited for that opportunity, but it does make it cooler that the guy on the other sideline is from right down the road from me.”
