JaguarsTalk: An Evening with Head Coach Doug Pederson and Quarterback Trevor Lawrence
JaguarsTalk: Our Date with Doug and Trev
Last night JaguarsTalk, along with several hundred other fans, attended an evening with Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Coach Doug Pederson. It was a good chance to sit down with them to discuss the state of the program, the progress made during OTAs, the length of Trevor’s hair, and the future employment of players on the cusp. It was an all around good night for Jags fans. Plus there was free food and drinks. I’ve never been one to turn down snacks.
I must say that the night started off with one of the coolest moves by a big name sports figure that I have seen in a long time. In this instance I mean Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville. He confidently took the stage and sat in Trevor Lawrence's seat. Without hesitation he pointed at a young kid in the crowd and called him up onto the stage. This was not planned in advance, so the kid had no idea what was going on, which makes this story even cooler. When the kid got on the stage, Jaxson de Ville handed him the microphone. Without missing a beat the kid turned to the crowd of hundreds and belted out the perfect “DUUUUUUUVALLLLLLLLL!” The crowd went wild. It was a mic drop moment. Jaxson de Ville knew he couldn’t follow that act so he melted away like Homer Simpson into the hedges (check your iphone GIFs for that image).
It was time for Trevor Lawrence and Doug Pederson to take the stage and regale us with tales of OTAs, how the new coach likes his new town, what superstitions they have before games etc… I will say this one thing, which may or may not make a difference on the field. Trevor looks skinny. Too skinny? Who am I to say, but at 6’6” I think he should be tipping the scales around 230+ and he didn’t look a pound over 205 last night. Keep in mind that I acknowledge the fact that I know nothing. I mean look at Tom Brady, he looks really skinny as well, but he is listed as 6’4” 225. This may mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. JaguarsTalk just doesn't want to see our main man break under the weight of the heavies that are coming for him. I assume that Shad Khan has opened his wallet for a state of the art weight room, maybe a team membership to Planet Fitness (the library of workout facilities), at least a TRX strap and a foam roller please. I want Trevor in the gym setting off the “lunk alarm” on a daily basis. Bottom line is as long as the man produces then for all we care he can look like Slenderman. Just stay healthy.
There was a point in the evening where we learned that Coach Pederson is a published author. The book is called Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion, and while there is a lot of Philly garb just dripping off the cover, I guess it can be forgiven. Pederson spoke last night about his four pillars to success. He went even further to say that these should essentially be mantras to live by and we here at JaguarsTalk tend to agree. Coach Pederson says to:
Create Energy
Eliminate Distractions
Fear Nothing
Attack Everything
One may look at these pillars and think, duh. Which is correct because life is not difficult. Life can be conquered with the right attitude and Coach Pederson has just put that attitude on paper. One of the great things Pederson said he looks for in players (but this also translates to people in general) is a person that doesn’t steal another’s energy but instead creates energy. He wants a group of players and coaches that bring their own energy to the game, everyday. In life one needs to produce their own positive vibes and not rely on the upbeat energy of those around them to lift their own spirits. It can essentially be boiled down to a saying we here at JaguarsTalk have preached, don’t wait, create. Don’t wait for others to do it for you, build the life you want by doing it yourself. Not only will you find that you are happier and more successful, but other successful people will recognize that in you and provide you with even more opportunities. It’s a very positive message from a Super Bowl winning coach. To prove my point about success attracting success, take Trevor Lawrence and Dabo Swinney, two extremely successful football personalities. Lawrence commented that his college coach would always say “Wherever your feet are, be the best you can be.” That is great advice. No matter where you are physically or emotionally in your life, be the absolute best person you can be in every situation. Folks, you just can’t lose in life if you follow the above advice. Looks like we will be ordering Coach’s book for the office today. A mandatory new hire read possibly.
In the rest of this column we want to focus on the questions and answers that told us specific information about specific players, schemes, and injuries. Those were far and few between last night as most of the evening focused on generalities. There was only one specific player question from the crowd and it focused on one of the two main points about which I wanted answers. How’s Travis Etienne looking after the French foot folly? Does he still have his pre-injury speed and how excited is Trevor to have his old college teammate back? Will the fact that Lawrence and Etienne have a history of winning at Clemson translate to an already established winning chemistry at the pro level? As you can imagine, the answers were all positive. We aren’t going to get intricate, in-depth negative answers in this type of setting. I am not saying that the answers weren’t dead on correct, I’m just saying they were, to some extent, canned. Etienne looks really fast. He is practicing at 100%. Trevor is excited to have him back on the field and of course their well established chemistry will help the Jags offense this season. Our point is that if Etienne has lost a step, nobody is going to tell us that. We can only hope that he is 100% and can stay that way.
The other player I was interested in knowing about was Kevin Austin. What are the chances that the undrafted rookie wide receiver out of Notre Dame makes the team? Not necessarily at wide receiver, could just be on special teams to start, but we here at JaguarsTalk wholeheartedly believe he will be catching Lawrence passes sooner rather than later. As the evening drew to an end, I caught Coach Peterson before he left and asked him directly, “Coach, what are the chances Kevin Austin makes the team?” His response was concise, but more than that, it was his tone when he looked me in the eye and answered. “Really good. He has a really good chance at making this team.” It was more than just a canned positive response. Pederson paused for a second and was truly thinking about Austin before he gave me his answer. I’d like to think that is because I asked a direct question about a specific, non-superstar, which caught him a little off guard. It may have required more thoughtful analysis than some of the softballs lobbed his way earlier in the night. But, let’s be honest, I love tooting my own horn, so it’s probably all in my head.
You may be asking yourself why I cared to ask about Kevin Austin. He’s not a friend or relative. He didn’t go to my alma mater. In fact, I’ve never met him. Kevin Austin was a steal for the Jags. What impressed me the most, and we’ve written about it in previous columns, is how the Jags brass operated during this draft. They were disciplined and precise. They had researched, not only their targets, but everyone. The Jaguars executed a flawless draft. For example, Devin Lloyd should have gone in the top 10 and when he fell to a point where the Jags thought they could get him, they made it happen. Lloyd was picked up during a fire sale. He is a tremendous value considering his draft spot. Jacksonville again got tremendous value with the Chad Muma pick. Muma was thought to go in the second round, so in the third, when the Jags saw their opportunity, they made sure they got their man. Snoop Connor may not have been considered a value in the same light as the others but the Jags did their homework and grabbed a big bruiser of a running back that they know will fit their scheme and positively impact the team. To get the type of player that fits your exact needs, in the fifth round, equals value. I would also argue that Montaric Brown, an all-SEC cornerback out of Arkansas, who led the Southeastern Conference in interceptions his last year, is a huge value grab for a seventh round snag. Bottom line is that the Jags grabbed big deals in the draft and they continued that mindset when signing undrafted free agent Kevin Austin Jr. Austin should have been drafted. He is a very big, very physical and yet very fast wide receiver. I am rooting for the kid because I think he can really contribute to this team and I wanted to see where Coach Pederson’s head was regarding his chances. In truth, we here at JaguarsTalk also wanted some validation that our assessment (we wrote an entire column about Kevin Austin) was correct.
Time will tell if both the Jaguars and JaguarsTalk were correct about Kevin Austin. Either way, I appreciate the honest answer from Coach Pederson and the time that he and Trevor Lawrence spent with us last night. If you would like to spend some time with us here at JaguarsTalk headquarters, well, too bad. But what you can do is drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts on this column.