For his first couple of seasons in the NFL, Trevor Lawrence was known as much for his majestic hair as his on-field exploits.
The Jacksonville Jaguars quarterbacks’ golden locks have been a talking point ever since his time in college at Clemson.
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However, before he became a Tigers legend, Lawrence sported a no-nonsense buzz cut even the hardest high-school jock would be proud of.
An old highlights reel from Lawrence’s time at Cartersville High School in Cartersville, Georgia, shows T-Law with noticeably shorter hair for perhaps the last time in his life.
“Ross from Friends vibes,” one fan said when watching back the video of the-then wannabe NFL star.
“Reminds me of Sid, the neighbour in Toy Story,” said another.
“Absolute Sherminator!” remarked another, who thought Lawrence looked like the cult American Pie character of the same name.
However, Lawrence didn’t rock the buzz cut for much longer than that.
From his freshman year onwards, the budding quarterback’s curls grew exponentially after he and three teammates dared one another to not cut their hair for as long as they could manage.
The idea was to see who could hold out the longest and if any of them could actually pull off the look – and it seems Trevor might have won.
Back then the Jags star led Clemson to a national title as a true freshman and dominated the college scene as one of the best quarterbacks in the country during his three-year career.
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At the same time, Lawrence’s flowing locks, dubbed ‘The Trevor’, were making national headlines of their own.
It was not an uncommon sight to see legions of Clemson students wearing blonde wigs with white headbands to the Tennessee native’s games at Death Valley.
During his final season with the Tigers, Lawrence threw for 3,153 passing yards with 24 touchdowns and five interceptions and finished in second in voting for the Heisman Trophy behind Alabama wide receiver and future Eagles star, DeVonta Smith.
By the time the 2021 NFL Draft came around, the field general was already one of the highest-regarded amateur prospects. Yet still it was his voluminous head growth that people remained fixated on.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this point when I get questions about my hair, but I am,” Lawrence said before being drafted No. 1 overall. “I guess I thought maybe people would be used to it. I mean, I’ve had it for a while now.”
A high school student — who looked strikingly like Lawrence — becoming a TikTok sensation certainly helped the QB’s celebrity profile.
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As did the constant comparisons to various pop culture figures, like GQ, who likened him to Fabio Lanzoni, the retired cover star of romance novels.
Others compared Lawrence to Chris Hemsworth’s Thor character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it was his ‘Sunshine’ nickname that stuck with him throughout high school and into the pros.
Although you’d be forgiven for thinking the moniker was given to Lawrence for his warm and radiant disposition, the nickname is actually a nod to the iconic sports film ‘Remember The Titans’, when QB Ronnie Bass was called ‘Sunshine’ after showing up to his first practice with a flowy long blonde head of hair.
“Yeah, I’ve heard ‘Sunshine’ pretty much my whole life,” Lawrence once explained.
Fast forward to present day and Lawrence’s hair is still a subject of great interest around the league.
The 2022 Pro Bowler joined Peyton and Eli Manning on their Manningcast for the New York Jets vs Los Angeles Chargers game last season where he was asked about that other great head of NFL hair belonging to Justin Herbert.
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“Trevor, last year, Justin Herbert said your hair was more impressive than his,” Manning said.
“Justin also said that he does it and I quote, ‘put that much effort into it’.
It seems like he’s implying that you work too hard on your hair. Now, I don’t like to start feuds here on the Manningcast, but please take the opportunity to fire back if you’d like.”
The trio then discussed the fact that Lawrence grew up looking up to Peyton before Eli revealed a rather unnerving photo of what Lawrence would like if he had the same hairdo as Peyton.
That was all fun and games, which is more than can be said for Lawrence and the Jaguars in 2023 and 2024.
After starting last season with an 8–3 record, Jacksonville suffered a late-season collapse, in part due to Lawrence playing through an injury sustained in the Week 13 loss against the Bengals.
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The Jags went on to lose five of their final six games, losing out on both the AFC South division title and playoffs.
Despite the late-season meltdown, Jacksonville handed Lawrence a $275 million contract over the summer, as sure a sign as any the organization views him as their short, medium, and long term future moving forward.
However, Year 1 of Lawrence’s new contract got off to an abysmal start. They went 2-10 in their first twelve games before the 25-year-old’s season came to a painful end.
In Week 13, Trevor sustained a major concussion after taking a brutal hit from Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
Lawrence left the game immediately and Al-Shaair was ejected and subsequently suspended three games for the ‘dirty hit’.
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The Jags quarterback was less than halfway into his return to action after missing two games with a left sprained AC joint.
Lawrence was subsequently placed on injured reserve on December 4.
A couple of weeks later, he underwent shoulder surgery to repair the injury to the AC joint in his non-throwing shoulder.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said the surgery was successful and that Lawrence “is on the road to recovery.”
However, he will now miss the rest of the season and is expected to be ready to go sometime in spring 2025.
It marked a disappointing fourth year as a pro for Lawrence. He made just ten starts and threw for 2,045 yards, 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 60.6 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 85.2.
2025 is now set to be a make or break year.
