Travis Etienne is the overlooked star of Clemson offense, with some help from Popeyes

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Before she departed Louisiana to watch her son play in the Fiesta Bowl this week, Donnetta Etienne planned to do some research about the game’s location near Phoenix. She needed to know where to find the nearest Popeyes restaurant.

This was very important.

“We find Popeyes every state we go in,” said Etienne, mother of Clemson star running back Travis Etienne. 

It’s part of a family ritual for certain road games: While Travis is getting ready for the game, his mom heads to Popeyes so she can buy him one of his favorites – either a chicken sandwich or chicken tenders. Then she brings him the food at his hotel the day before the game.

“We make a joke: that chicken gives him wings,” Donnetta Etienne said.

And they might be right. Just like spinach gave strength to Popeye the cartoon sailor, Popeyes chicken helps fuel possibly the most explosive running back in college football. But it’s still only a small piece of the formula for Etienne, a junior whose Clemson Tigers face the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday in a College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Fiesta Bowl.

Other people and parts have helped power his rise, including a family of basketball players, an upbringing in church and so much good Southern cooking that he’s no longer just a quiet country boy from tiny Jennings, Louisiana. He’s arguably the best running back in Clemson history, even though he doesn’t get the ball nearly as much as the nation’s other top running backs.

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He ran the ball on only 19% of his team’s plays this year as Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence spread the ball around to a rich array of weaponry. But when he did run the ball, he scored a touchdown or gained a first down 37% of the time, according to Pro Football Focus, an advanced stats and analytics company that provides data to NFL teams. The 5-foot-10 Etienne also ranks first nationally in rushing yards per carry (8.24).

"He believes he can take it to the house every single play," Clemson co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said. .

He even seems to fly into a higher gear after making contact with defenders, using his sense of balance and “duck feet” to keep him upright, as his mother has described them. He said he was born with his feet "turned outside," affecting his gait.

"I feel like it definitely plays in my favor, because I’m able to have my feet in awkward body positions and am able to still accelerate and get upfield," Travis Etienne said.

He broke tackles on 46% of his carries this season, setting a college record, according to PFF data compiled since 2014. Of his 1,500 rushing yards this season, 65% came after contact with defenders, according to PFF.

All of these qualities might make him a top pick in the NFL draft next year if he chooses to leave Clemson after three seasons. 

Just don’t expect such success to change him, says his grandmother Betty Etienne.

'It runs in the family'

Betty Etienne said he’s still pretty much the same kid he was a few years ago, when “T.J.” – as his family calls him – went to church on Sundays and addressed his elders as “sir” or “ma’am.” His parents showed him the value of work – his father in the oil business and his mother as a nurse. He also had two older sisters to look up to and a younger brother to show the way. All were athletes at Jennings High.

"When he got ready to go to college, I asked the Lord to send him to place that was like Jennings because he’s from the country,” Betty Etienne said. “He was asked why he chose Clemson. He said, 'Because I’m a country boy.’ He said the same thing I had prayed and asked God for. Jennings is a little country town."

The city has a population of about 10,000 and is about 170 highway miles west of New Orleans, where Etienne, 20, will play for the national championship on Jan. 13 if his Tigers beat the Buckeyes.  Their opponent in that game could be LSU, whose campus is about 90 miles down the same road from Jennings but which didn’t prioritize Etienne as a recruiting prospect until it was too late. Clemson was just a better fit anyway, with its Southern country feel and head coach, Dabo Swinney, whose program is known for its faith and family atmosphere. Etienne was Clemson’s first football signee out of Louisiana since 2003.

"Their culture was kind of like what we grew up in,” Donnetta Etienne said. “So it kind of kept him close to his norm.”

His norm was sports and church. Besides his siblings, his mother, father and at least one uncle and grandfather all played basketball at Jennings High. His younger brother is a sophomore there and might be even better than he is in football. He has been recruited by LSU.

“It runs in the family, yes” Betty Etienne said.

Biggest challenge

Clemson is preparing to face its toughest test of the year. Ohio State has allowed only 12.5 points a game, third nationally.

But Clemson has won 28 in a row and has the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring offense (46.5 points a game). The Tigers haven’t lost since Etienne’s freshman season, when Alabama defeated them 24-6 in another national semifinal game.

Sometime before kickoff, his family hopes to give him the lift he needs this week. His mom said she was going to Google-search Phoenix locations of Popeyes, a chain that was founded in Louisiana in 1972.

"If they have one around, I’ll definitely eat it if she brings it," Travis Etienne said Thursday. Yet he's not convinced it helps him physically. It's more like a way to comfort himself. 

"It probably hurts me more than anything, but I just always grew up around Popeyes," he said. "I’ve always had it, so I mean, I guess I connect with a little piece of home."

They’ve conducted this ritual from coast to coast and in between, including at the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in Charlotte a few weeks ago.

“We’ve been there three times so we know where Popeyes is over there,” she said of Charlotte. “We went to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas (last year). We had to find Popeyes. We went to Santa Clara (for the national championship game in January). We found Popeyes. And we’re going to go to Phoenix and find Popeyes.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com