Travis Etienne

Travis Etienne Jr. (US: /eɪˈtʃæn/ AY-chan; born January 26, 1999) is an American professional football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Clemson Tigers and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

Etienne was raised in Jennings, Louisiana, and is of Louisiana Creole ancestry. His father works for a well service company in the oil industry, while his mother, Donnetta is a nurse.

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.

Travis's younger brother Trevor was drafted by the Carolina Panthers with 114th pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

As a freshman at Clemson in 2017, he was part of a backfield that contained Tavien Feaster, Adam Choice, C. J. Fuller, and dual-threat quarterback Kelly Bryant. He led the team in rushing with 766 yards on 107 carries with 13 touchdowns.

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. He had eight games going over 100 rushing yards 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.

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 (23.6 yards per attempt). 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. In the Fiesta Bowl, he caught the game winning touchdown with 1:49 left in the game, running it in from 34 yards. Following the season, he was named a consensus second-team All-American.

Despite projections that Etienne would enter the 2020 NFL draft, he announced on January 17, 2020, that he would return to Clemson for his senior year.