Jaguars OC Pleased with Lawrence, Working Etienne Hard
Darrell Bevell is still in the very early stages of getting to know what Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne are capable of, but the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator like what he sees from the two former Clemson stars.
Bevell met with the Jacksonville media following the second practice of training camp and said Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, is "looking good" so far.
"Really pleased with where he's at in terms of his preparation and then being able to carry that over to the field," Bevell said Thursday. "He'll continue to get better every day."
Lawrence opened up training camp Wednesday behind QB Gardner Minshew, but it's hard to see him staying at No. 2 for long. Bevell loved to see the offseason work ethic Lawrence showed, especially when he got several of his receivers together in Clemson a few weeks ago to work out on the practice fields.
"For a young guy, and he had some of the more veteran players over there with him...that's good stuff," Bevell said. "That's where the comradery starts. You fine tune some things.
"There's lines in the book of what we do and then there's some nuances to it and each guy has different nuances. When you're able to spend extra time, you learn that. You can read body language You know how a guy is going to come out of a break by how he goes into it. That's the stuff they're getting done there."
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As for Etienne, Bevell and the Jags staff are putting Clemson's all-time leading rusher to work and testing what he can handle. The coaches made headlines in mini-camp when they had Etienne, who caught 43 passes from Lawrence last year, learning receiver.
It sounds like some of that is continuing in training camp. Bevell explained Thursday that the staff already knows he and other backs can run the football, so they make them practice the things the players don't know how to do as well.
"We're putting him in those hard situations and we're trying to make it as difficult as we can on him, give him a lot," Bevell said about Etienne, the Jags' other first-round draft pick. "Then we'll hone it down and get him exactly where we want him."
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