Urban Meyer, Jaguars coach, won't commit himself to Trevor Lawrence's start. He said that there is still a competition between him (Gardner Minshew) and Urban Meyer. (0:16).JACKSONVILLE (Fla.) -- Trevor Lawrence is a great player for the NFL. But there's something that stands out above all others: He never loses.On Saturday, Lawrence will enter his first NFL preseason match 86-4. He was a starter at Cartersville High School (52-2) and Clemson (32-2). In the regular season, Lawrence was perfect at 68-0. He has lost four of 22 playoff games. This means that there are very few quarterbacks who have been able to beat him head-to-head.Two of them are easy to identify: Joe Burrow, who led LSU in a 42-25 win over Clemson at the national title match after the 2019 season. He was also the No. Justin Fields, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft and Joe Burrow, who led LSU to a victory over Clemson in the national title game after the 2019 season. He was also the No. 2 pick.What about the two other?Although not household names, one went on to play college football. Chances are you haven't heard of Jake Smith or Luke Humphrey unless you live in Roswell and Buford, Atlanta.Trevor Lawrence, a true hometown hero, is in Cartersville, Georgia. You might see your name on a downtown mural. Jeff Robinson/Icon SportswireTrevor Lawrence's first loss by Luke Humphrey, Buford HSHumphrey was not a top-tier recruit, unlike Lawrence. To be the Buford Wolves' starting pitcher, he had to beat out a sophomore in camp. However, he shared one thing with Lawrence in 2014: He hadn't lost any games.Buford was 14-0 going into the 2014 Class AAAA semifinal at Cartersville High School. Humphrey had performed well. He had thrown for 1,116 yard and 16 touchdowns, with five interceptions. Humphrey had thrown a record-breaking 177 yards the week before in a quarterfinal win over Marist. Buford's greatest strength was, however, defense. The Wolves had seven victories and only twice allowed more than 12 points per game.Humphrey and his team saw Lawrence as a freshman, and that he hadn't seen any defenses close to what was happening that night. This was the key. Lawrence was a good player and would eventually be the No. 1 in the country. He was a ninth grader.Buford thought they could profit from that until the game began.Humphrey stated, "Everybody was talking Trevor up." He was a true freshman. He has thrown this many TDs and this many yards. For a true freshman, he already had amazing stats. Our defense was also confident, saying, "Oh, it's true freshman," [and] not too concerned about it."Well, we arrive, and the kid is 6-foot-5 and can really sling that in warm-ups. He threw two incomplete passes on his first drive, but they were right on the money. We were amazed when he had some receivers drop some ball, and thought 'All right, this kid is the real deal, even though it's true freshman.'Buford maintained a 14-3 lead in the third quarter by playing ball control, putting pressure on Lawrence and forcing him to make mistakes. The Wolves could have had a bigger lead if they hadn't made so many offensive mistakes. Humphrey's touchdown pass to Isaac Nauta, a tight end at Georgia, was 57 yards long. This illegal motion penalty wiped it out.Humphrey said that they did a play action pass and threw for 126 yard. "I was rolling out. I had a few guys open. Isaac Nauta actually had two people on his back 40 yards down the field. I threw one to him and he made the play and scored the touchdown.ESPN offers fantasy football for free. ESPN has more people playing on ESPN than any other site. Create or join a league in the No. 1. Fantasy Football game Register now for a free accountBuford won the game in the final quarter. Steven Reese, safety, intercepted Lawrence. He returned the ball to the 3 yard line. Joshua Thomas ran back and scored his third 1-yard touchdown of the game. The Wolves won the 27-3.That's exactly what Buford linebacker Konnor Harris did during that interception Humphrey still remembers.Humphrey stated that Trevor Lawrence was about to tackle Konnor Houston and had a big hit on him. "He [Lawrence] actually leapt right up from that and we're like, "That kid is tough.""It would have been probably a penalty in today’s world."Lawrence hasn’t forgotten about it.He said, "It's one the hardest hits that I've ever had."You can see the video below, starting at the 3:51 mark. Lawrence is in purple. The hit starts at 3:56.Although Buford would beat St. Pius X Catholic 55-10 in the final round to win the state title for the first time, Humphrey stated that the victory over Cartersville is what he most remembers from that season."Beating Cartersville with Trevor Lawrence as quarterback was the most important thing. Humphrey stated that it was the hardest game to win this thing. "It was more of an important-time game than the championship."What has Humphrey done since then?Humphrey was able to graduate the following spring and enroll at the University of West Georgia. He later transferred to the University of North Georgia, where he now works as a logistics specialist. He and his high school friends often reminisce about the game when they get together.Humphrey stated that Cartersville is probably brought up more than any other games, as Trevor Lawrence plays Trevor Lawrence. "Konnor Houston loves to brag a bit. Trevor Lawrence is a very memorable person for him."It was not a tackle or interception that he made, it was, "Oh, I hit Trevor Lawrence."Humphrey has been following Lawrence's career closely since that night.Humphrey, a Georgia Bulldogs fan and Atlanta Falcons fan said that it was "really cool" to beat someone of such caliber. It was clearly a team effort. He is my support now. I am proud to say that I beat him head-tohead. But I've been pulling for him since then. He was still at Cartersville after high school and I was a graduate. I wanted him win, I wanted him success. Clemson is not my favorite team. I voted for Clemson when he was playing. Although I don't like Jacksonville, I still support Jacksonville.It'll be something I will always remember. You can brag about it to people.How Lawrence was defeated by Blessed Trinity Catholic and Jake SmithTrevor Lawrence is shown here playing in his last high school game with Cartersville Hurricanes. He lost to Blessed Trinity Catholic High School on Nov. 11, 2017. Scott Cunningham/Getty ImagesSmith has a better story. He threw the game-winning touchdown pass in 12 seconds to beat Lawrence and Cartersville, in a Class AAAA playoff game in 2017.Blessed Trinity's victory 21-17 over the Hurricanes ended their 41-game winning streak, and they failed to win three consecutive state titles. It was also the final game in Lawrence's high school career.Smith, a junior, had some solid stats for Blessed Trinity Titans, including a 70% completion rate, 27 touchdowns, and one interception. Former Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin stated that Smith's interception was due to a deflection.Lawrence was the nation's No. 1 recruit, but Smith was not like him. Smith was the nation's No. 1 recruit, and was about to enroll at Clemson in January. However, Smith wasn’t highly sought after college recruit. He is not a quarterback. He was initially wanted by some schools as a safety but Air Force offered him the position of quarterback in 2020. Best of NFL Nation Trevor Lawrence beat?Campbell's favorite quotes from the Lions campAre frigid hikes possible? How Colts' Taylor prepares for the seasonTitans hype Taylor Lewan's returnWilliams impresses in Eagles' rookie reportSmith declined an interview request from Air Force's sport information department. He started at Blessed Trinity's spots and made an impact against Cartersville that night as a safety, blowing up a receiver screen with a big hit.McFarlin stated that Jake came from the center of the field at full tilt and he got up underneath the screen. The [receiver] turned right in his direction," McFarlin added. It was an explosion when Jake struck him. That was quite a haul for our sideline. Although he was not hurt, it took him some time to recover. Jake made many big plays like this."Nothing is more important than the touchdown pass.Lawrence had pulled Cartersville back from a deficit of 14-3. His Hurricanes were leading 17-14 with just one minute left. Smith had driven the Titans down to the Cartersville 26 yard line with 20 seconds left. McFarlin called up a chance at a touchdown on the third down. He would kick the fourth field goal if it didn't go his way and try again in overtime.He didn't want the game to go into overtime in Cartersville. McFarlin stated that they were 31 points underdogs in a game they weren’t supposed to win.The Titans ran the ball well throughout the night and remained in a run-heavy configuration: two tight ends and two running backs, one receiver and two running backs. Smith played-faked Steele Chambers, the running back at Ohio State. Ryan Davis, a junior at 5-10 who would play at UAB, used a double move in order to open.With 12 seconds remaining, Smith hit Davis in back of the endzone to take the lead.McFarlin stated, "It was just one moment where we felt like it was necessary to take the shot to win the game. And we were lucky that we got behind him to score the touchdown."Blessed Trinity's defense kept Lawrence from running all night. He was held to 142 yards and one touchdown pass. Cartersville had scored at most 35 points in 11 previous games, and had surpassed 50 points seven times. The 17 points are a season low.McFarlin stated, "As the game got tighter, the longer it went, I felt that the advantage kinda moved to our sideline." They were not used to playing long into the game. Their games were usually over by the third quarter. They averaged well over 40 points per game and we held them to just one offensive touchdown."I think that the pressure from that game showed up a bit late in the game. There were a few drops. They had a few drops. It's one of those situations where you say to the coaches that you should play them 10 times and you'd lose nine. But, this was the only game we won.Lawrence on the high school lossesIt's unfair to pick out two losses from all the championships and games Lawrence has won over his career. However, he was polite and willing to talk about it. He also remembered some names and details.They still sting.Lawrence stated, "They will always stay with you." It's important to remember what you did as a competitor or a winner. I think mostly about the fact that we won two state championships, and I had a great four-years. But I also think about what could have been done."First one was in semifinals, could have won there. However, [Buford] was a much better team than we. My senior year, however, I knew that we were the stronger team, and that it was just not working out. My last year felt like we were the best team, but didn't finish."They are definitely yours."Perhaps now, more people will also remember Smith and Humphrey.
