Urban Meyer: Trevor Lawrence 'Not Ready Yet'
If the NFL season started this week, it sounds like Trevor Lawrence wouldn't be the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback.
New head coach Urban Meyer said as much when he recently spoke with USA TODAY Sports studio host and producer Mackenzie Salmon on "Sports Seriously.”
“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.”
Meyer is right. Lawrence doesn't have to suit up and play the Houston Texans. That's scheduled for Sept. 12. There's plenty of time for him to earn his coach's trust, but it's hard to believe the Jaguars drafted Lawrence No. 1 overall in May to be anything but the Day 1 starter and leader of the franchise.
Lawrence went 34-2 as a starter at Clemson and threw for over 10,000 yards with 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions while leading the program to three consecutive College Football Playoff appearances and one national title.
"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. And his focus is on being a good husband, being strong in his faith and winning games, and that's really cool."
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