The Jaguars haven’t named Trevor Lawrence their starter yet. But Lawrence will start this season and, the team hopes, for many, many seasons to come.
Coach Urban Meyer told Mackenzie Salmon of Sports Seriously that Lawrence began studying the playbook before the draft and is advancing “maybe quicker” in the offense than the team anticipated. Still, Meyer isn’t ready to tab Lawrence as the Day 1 starter.
“He’s not ready yet, but he doesn’t have to be ready yet,” Meyer told Salmon. “We got a long training camp coming up. He’s probably advanced maybe a little quicker than we would’ve thought, so which was a positive. One thing that we worked on — when we made a decision that Trevor was going to be our No. 1 pick, we went from the evaluation stage to the preparation stage. And that means that I want to see — I can’t remember the exact date, but we started installing the playbook with him well before the draft. So you can see the retention, he’s got a really good work ethic and he’s progressed very well.”
Jacksonville used the No. 1 overall choice on Lawrence, who threw for 10,098 yards with 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
“I knew a lot about Trevor,” Meyer said. “I think we all did. Obviously, I was in the college game for so many years. I’m really close with Dabo Swinney, his former head coach. And really, I’ve seen him up close and live and in person several times. So I knew a lot about him, but I think one of the most refreshing things is he’s worried about one thing. He’s married. He has no distractions, which is amazing to me. In 2021, the world’s about distractions, and there is none with him. It’s our job to keep it that way. His focus is on being a good husband, being strong in his faith and winning games, and that’s really cool.”