Shuffling between a Jacksonville Jaguars practice and a team meeting, running back Travis Etienne allows himself a few minutes to crow about his little brother, Trevor, the college freshman who’s preparing to start his own preseason camp 71 miles away in Gainesville.
Travis — the player who broke the ACC rushing record at Clemson, twice earned conference player of the year, won a national championship and departed as a first-round draft pick — claims Trevor is developing at an even faster pace, which astounds the mind as to what might be forthcoming at the University of Florida.
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Developing in the contrails of a college football legend, and particularly while playing the same position, creates a suction of expectations. Some call them crushing, but Trevor welcomed the bar being set high. “It accelerated his process,” says Travis, “because he knew what having success looked like. He knew what it took, knew what he needed to do. He’s only 18 now, but the way he carries himself is far beyond his years.”
As much as the brothers brag on one another to outsiders, their sibling rivalry burns intense. Travis is the third of Donnetta Etienne’s four children, Trevor is the baby, and five-plus years of separation isn’t enough to temper their competitive streak. Years ago they started comparing stats — when one was starring at Jennings (La.) High and the other was a chubby youngster carving up the pee-wee fields. The challenges advanced through each level of competition: Who could score the most touchdowns, make the most catches, and who could post the best numbers during the offseason workouts.
When Travis dropped a pass during a game in Clemson, Trevor told their mom in the bleachers, “I’m gonna have to take your son out and teach him how to catch.” The roles were reversed when Trevor effortlessly ripped off three first-half touchdowns during a high school game in Jennings and Travis cracked: “They’re not even trying to tackle him. Give me some pads. I bet I can catch him!”
The deep family connection is being fortified now that their mom, older sister Danielle, three nieces and nephews, and their grandmother have relocated from Jennings to Jacksonville. Another sister, Shanea, plans to move once she finishes her RN accreditation. They recently were together for Trevor’s birthday: Donnetta cooking fried pork chops and red beans and rice, and grandma baking the cake.
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Having her boys playing within 71 miles of each other is a heartwarming convenience, much easier than when Travis was 10 hours away at Clemson. Donnetta especially looks forward to three weekends this fall when the Gators and Jaguars share intersecting home games. There’s a decision to be made Oct. 29, when she plans to stay in Jacksonville for Trevor’s first Cocktail Party game against Georgia in lieu of following the Jags to London.
By that point, perhaps Florida’s version of Etienne will be mimicking what his older brother accomplished at Clemson by setting the freshman touchdown record.
“I’ve never told him to be patient,” Travis says. “The message is, ‘You’re going there to compete for a spot. Show the coaches what you’ve got and let them make the decision.’
“He’s a great talent. The little brother I grew up with was a fat kid, and now he’s a great athlete. Seeing it with my own eyes is special.”
‘He wants his own legacy’
Donnetta Etienne broke into a smile last December when she read the text message: “God is awesome!”
It came from the Gators’ new running backs coach, Jabbar Juluke, who was on his first day at Florida. Hurriedly getting up to speed on the early signing period situation, he learned Trevor had silently committed months earlier. This was a full-circle moment, a second chance of sorts for Juluke, who some LSU fans scapegoated for not signing Travis during the 2017 cycle.
“That wasn’t his fault,” Donnetta says. “He got a bad rap because he couldn’t get Travis, but he didn’t do anything wrong with us.”
In February 2016, Juluke was hired by LSU less than a day in advance of the program’s “Boys from the Boot” junior event that Travis attended. Juluke actually secured a commitment that day from another top in-state recruit, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and the Tigers planned to reserve a second running back slot for Cam Akers, who eventually chose Florida State. Travis subsequently considered Texas A&M, Oregon and Tennessee before Clemson and LSU made a final surge.
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While Travis became the toast of the ACC, Juluke worked at Texas Tech and Louisiana, taking an interest in Trevor though it was obvious he would fetch bigger offers than the Sun Belt. Hearing that Billy Napier was bringing Juluke to Florida made Donnetta even more comfortable about Trevor’s secret commitment.
“You’ve got another Etienne!” she told him.
The conventional wisdom that Trevor would follow Travis to Clemson never materialized, though the Etienne family praises the job Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott did.
“We knew Clemson had good people, but Trevor didn’t want to travel behind his brother,” Donnetta said. “He wants his own legacy, which we understand. Travis paved his way there, and so Trevor needed to pave his own way at his own school.”
Plenty of contingencies surfaced thanks to 14 offers from Power 5 programs, including Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and LSU. Former Gators running back coach Greg Knox — whom Donnetta described as “a good coach and an even better man” — won Trevor over. He committed in October and told the staff he’d make the decision public on Jan. 8 at the All-American Bowl. The proximity to Jacksonville, where Travis was an NFL rookie, was such a perk that the firing of Dan Mullen’s staff didn’t lead to any wavering.
Since Trevor arrived at Florida in May, he has been assigned to a leadership role within the freshman group and is helping with recruiting. Napier’s disciplined approach has a familiar feel.
“That’s what made us love Clemson so much — that Travis and them were held accountable — and now coach Napier is trying to instill that at Florida,” Donnetta said. “I love my kids being up under that kind of coach because it’s going to make them good men.
“Coach Napier is serious. He let some people go and he’s making some changes. He’s not worrying about if you’re mad or not. He’s worried about building his program.”
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‘Complete running backs’
At a gym in Lake Charles, La., about a half-hour’s drive from Jennings, Emerson Baty had an up-close stake in Travis Etienne’s emergence as a high school star. They focused on sport-specific strengthening and functional lifts meant to bring out a power football player, “not beach muscles.” The workouts continued when Travis returned home from Clemson on break, and Trevor, who by that point was expecting to see varsity action as a ninth grader, came along.
It did not start well.
“His first day was really tough,” says Baty, who still has a picture of an exhausted Trevor stretched out on the concrete floor, eyes closed after his final rep. When the kid sat up, he told Baty: “I hope you got what you wanted out of me today because I’m not coming back tomorrow.”
It took a week of calls for Baty to coax Trevor back into the gym. They talked about goals, modified the training regimen and went back to work. The results were obvious: The baby fat vanished and another superstar Etienne was unleashed.
Both signed as four-star recruits, according to the 247Sports Composite — Travis the 213th-rated recruit in 2017 and Trevor at No. 190 in the 2022 class.
“They get categorized as having great genetics and being blessed with this immense amount of talent, but their talent is matched by their work ethic,” Baty says. “These are individualized workouts with a prescribed program. No cameras. Just you in a hot gym. It’s not a team workout where you can get lost in the shuffle or hide between sets. It takes a commitment.”
Their drive to attack the weight room proved similar, though their personalities diverged. Travis remained the soft-spoken, older brother, cautious never to set a bad example. Trevor was the outgoing daredevil who popped wheelies on his four-wheelers and occasionally got tossed into a ditch.
Their physiques varied, too. Travis played his freshman season at Clemson at 185 pounds and is now listed at 215. whereas Trevor reported to Gainesville at 217.
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“Trevor has a bigger body that’s more physically developed,” Baty says. “Travis is faster, but that’s not a slight because Travis is faster than a lot of people.
“They’re both complete running backs. They shouldn’t be perceived as ‘Travis is a speed back and Trevor is a power back,’ because they can both go between the tackles and they can both beat you around the edge. They can both do whatever any coach asks of them.”
He talks with both brothers frequently, happy to hear how Travis has recovered from his rookie foot injury, and encouraged by Trevor’s first two months of summer conditioning at Florida.
“He’s thriving,” says Baty, who sent Trevor a collage of photos from their past four years together. Turns out there were multiple images of the kid laid out after training sessions. “These moments were the stepping stones to the success he’s having now, and he earned every ounce of it. He didn’t get there because of who his brother was or what his last name is.”
(Top photo of Trevor Etienne and his mom, Donnetta: Courtesy of the Etienne family)
