Travis Etienne


Travis Etienne Jr. is an American football running back for the Clemson Tigers.

Early years

Etienne attended Jennings High School in Jennings, Louisiana. As a senior, he rushed for 2,459 yards with 39 touchdowns. For his career, he had 8,864 total yards with 115 total touchdowns. He was rated as a four star recruit and the 15th highest rated running back recruit in the country by the 247Sports.com Composite, which aggregates the ratings of the major recruiting services. Etienne committed to Clemson University to play college football on January 21, 2017. Etienne is of Louisiana Creole and Haitian ancestry.

College career

2017

As a freshman at Clemson in 2017, Etienne led the team in rushing with 766 yards on 107 carries with 13 touchdowns.

2018

As a sophomore in 2018, he was a key member of a Clemson team that won the national championship. Etienne rushed for 1,659 yards on the year and had an FBS-leading 24 rushing touchdowns. He had an additional two receiving touchdowns, bringing his total touchdowns from scrimmage to 26, which also led FBS. After winning the 2018 ACC Championship Game against Pitt, Etienne was named the MVP of the game. Etienne was named ACC Player of the Year and ACC Offensive Player of the Year following the regular season. He was named a first-team All-American by Sporting News and ESPN, and was a consensus second-team All-American.

2019

Etienne started his junior year at Clemson with a career-high 205 yards and three touchdowns in the first game of the season. He bested this in a November 2 game against Wofford, when he ran for 212 yards and two touchdowns on just 9 attempts. He became the first Clemson running back to have three career 200-yard games. At the conclusion of the regular season, Etienne was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year, and first-team All-ACC; all for the second consecutive year. He is the first Clemson player to win consecutive ACC Player of the Year awards since Steve Fuller in 1977–78. Etienne ended his junior season with 1,614 rushing yards and an ACC-leading 19 rushing touchdowns. His 7.8 yards-per-carry were second most in FBS.
Despite widely being expected to declare for the 2020 NFL Draft, Etienne announced on January 17, 2020 that he would be returning to Clemson for his senior season.