Five-star quarterback Trevor Lawrence is the number one recruit in the country, according to 247 Sports. That doesn’t mean just quarterbacks, that’s across the board.

It’s been said before, but can never be said enough: intangibles separate good quarterbacks from great ones.  

Lawrence of Cartersville High School embodies this better than anyone else at his level. At 6’5’’, 200 pounds it’s hard enough to miss him out there on the field, but in addition to that, he has shoulder length hair, making him extremely easy to find… think Tom Brady in 2010.

Lawrence has offers from just about every school you can think of- including Alabama, Florida, LSU, Clemson, Georgia… I mean, the list just doesn’t end.

However, he hasn’t announced where he’ll commit, but says he could have a decision as early as the end of this summer.

So… he’s kind of a big deal… (To quote “Anchorman.”)

We’ve seen him play on GPB’s Football Fridays in Georgia, most recently at the Georgia Dome in December when the Purple Hurricanes won the state championship. And at a spring practice recently, I was able to watch him go through some fundamental drills.

Aside from having a strong mental disposition and possessing those intangibles, Lawrence does a great job with his timing. He places the ball perfectly, making the receivers’ job a lot easier. He’s not better at the long ball or short pass; he’s excellent at both. He can launch it down field in double coverage, or stick it in a tight window on a short pass.

Head Coach Joey King remembers watching Lawrence as an eighth grader on one play in particular.  “I looked at my QB coach and we knew we had something special,” he says.

He’s come a long way since his eighth grade year. Coach King says his arm strength and vision of the field has improved, and his release has gotten tighter. But, “the thing that’s the most impressive to me is that the leadership is growing and developing and from the quarterback position, that’s really what you want,” he says.

This coach-QB duo seems like a match made in heaven. In his second season as head coach, Joey King brought Cartersville their first state title in 16 years. This will be his third season as coach and with Lawrence as the quarterback. They went undefeated last year before bringing home the final W of the season with a 10-0 victory over Buford in the championship game.

Watching him play now, is almost like watching a college game, he really is that good. It’s hard to believe that he graduates from high school in 2018.

But hold on, hold on… let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. He still has a junior and senior year to play. And the pressure to remain at the top as defending champs doesn’t seem to plague him, but rather motivates him and his team to do their best.

“It’s harder to repeat than it is to win the first one, so that’s what we’re working for,” says Lawrence.

He wasn’t a man of many words… but his coach echoed that sentiment, adding that they’re pretty excited about who they’ll have on the field this season.

“We’ve got seven back on defense, so we feel pretty good about that. On offense, we’ve got 4 back but we’ve got some guys who’ve spot-played for us a little bit,” says King. “We got a good nucleus back,” he added.

Among those returning is wide receiver is Antoine Jefferson.

“Antoine is the only returning starting receiver so I’m really going to depend on him and hopefully we can have a good year again,” says Lawrence.

So get ready for spirals, touchdowns and tackles… the Purple Hurricanes open their season against the Buccaneers of Allatoona. Both are defending champions in their respective classifications (Allatoona now AAAAAA).