BEAVERTON, Ore. — Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, the most coveted high school quarterback in a decade effortlessly lobbed footballs last summer at The Opening, one of the nation's top gatherings of college prospects.

Even then, on the Nike campus and without a helmet or pads, Trevor Lawrence looked every bit the player he was billed to be: a generational quarterback who broke Deshaun Watson's high school records in passing yards (13,902) and touchdowns (161) while starring at Cartersville High School in Georgia.

He's tall (6'6"), but at 210 pounds, he's not lanky. He is mechanical with his footwork and throwing motion but still smooth and natural. An agent who watched Lawrence throw last year said his arm is NFL-ready.

"That's the best high school arm I've seen in a long time," he said.

Lawrence's high school team won 41 consecutive games and back-to-back state championships. As a senior, with his commitment to Clemson secure, Lawrence lived up to the hype by throwing 41 touchdown passes and just one interception.

Lawrence is the No. 1 player in the country, according to 247Sports composite ranking. He's the first quarterback to be ranked as the nation's top player since USC commit Matt Barkley held down the top spot in 2009.

"Trevor is, on paper, one of the best I've covered," Barton Simmons, director of scouting for 247Sports, says. "What I mean by that is he really does check every box. He has the size, the arm and long-term proven success. The resume is just as good as it gets."

While Simmons says there is risk in assessing every quarterback, "in terms of the physical tools, Trevor is probably the best pro-style quarterback that we have evaluated."

Lawrence verbally committed to Clemson in December of 2016—not with a press conference or announcement video, but with a tweet that included his decision and the message, "Please respect my decision and no interviews."

This past December, Lawrence made his commitment to Clemson official by signing during the first-ever early signing period. While more than a dozen media outlets requested to be at the small ceremony held at the school, Lawrence kept it private. Only the local paper was allowed to attend.

"I'm not really into all the media stuff," Lawrence said last summer. "People have just started to leave me alone for the most part."

Lawrence is already on Clemson's campus and acclimating to life in a major college program. He enrolled early with hopes that he will start next fall.

Kelly Bryant, the starter from last season who led Clemson to the College Football Playoff, will return. As will Hunter Johnson, a 5-star recruit and the No. 2 ranked pro-style quarterback from a season ago.

"[Lawrence] can do whatever he wants to do," Cartersville quarterbacks coach Michael Bail says. "He has to stay healthy, learn the college system and adapt to the speed of the game. If that happens as quickly as it did when he was an eighth-grader, I think the sky is the limit."

Lawrence will be thrown into the mix and have his chance to shine. With a deep team returning, especially on defense, the expectations for Clemson will once again be College Football Playoff or bust.

While the idea of a true freshman guiding the Tigers back to the national championship would normally seem preposterous, we just saw Tua Tagovailoa lead the Alabama Crimson Tide through the second half of the championship game. 

It is unknown whether Lawrence will be provided the same opportunity so early on. But at some point, likely sooner rather than later, we will get a glimpse of a player who threw 161 touchdown passes and just 21 interceptions in high school. When we do, he'll face high expectations against players bigger, faster and better than he's ever seen.

But his expectations of himself are higher than any being put upon him externally. Rather than be satisfied as the No. 1 player in America and the best quarterback prospect to appear in 10 years, he took it one quantum leap further:

"His goal is to be the best that has ever done it," Cartersville head coach Joey King said. "When you hear that, you kind of step back and think, He really could do that."