‘He Always Supported Me’: Trevor Lawrence Reacts to Urban Meyer’s Firing
It's been a wild first year in the NFL for Trevor Lawrence.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are an AFC-worst 2-11, losing more games than Lawrence has probably lost in his life. There has also been a lot of drama attached to the Jags, specifically head coach Urban Meyer.
Meyer, who signed a 5-year contract to become the coach in January, has been involved in numerous controversies throughout the season.
The news of Meyer's dismissal came less than 12 hours following the retelling of an incident when kicker Josh Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times that Meyer kicked him back in training camp.
“I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back,” Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times. “... Urban Meyer, while I’m in that stretch position, comes up to me and says, ‘Hey Dips---, make your f------ kicks!’ And kicks me in the leg.”
Meyer was relieved of his duties by owner Shad Khan in the early hours of Thursday morning, with the news breaking just before 1 a.m. For the Jaguars, it was the end to a long and bitter marriage between Meyer and the NFL. For Lawrence and the rest of the Jaguars, it was starting new.
“Like I said yesterday, there’s been some drama, there’s been some distractions. You can’t ever go back though, you just have to move forward," Lawrence said. "Where we’re at right now, [Interim Head Coach] Coach Bev[ell]’s our head coach the rest of the reason and I have a lot of respect for Bev and who he is. He’s earned my respect so we’re going to all follow him. I’m excited about these last four games and just to go play our best and finish with some momentum.”
Lawrence, like many Jaguars fans, found out about the news when he woke up Thursday morning due to the late nature of the news breaking.
“I actually, I didn’t find out until this morning," Lawrence said Thursday. "I woke up, I guess it was around six or whatever, and saw it on my phone. I had some texts and then just naturally kind of googled it to see what’s going on just to be honest."
After finding out about the news, Lawrence responded in a very mature way about it with the rest of the team.
"Obviously, it’s weird. It’s a different deal, something I’ve never experienced. Some of the guys obviously that were in Detroit, Marv[in Jones Jr.], this is kind of similar to last year. For me, I think it brings a little bit of clarity to the guys in the locker room. I wouldn’t say relief, but I would say just brings some clarity and some direction moving forward," Lawrence said.
"We really want to go and finish this season strong and to be honest, it’s been hard the last week with everything going on. There’s a lot of things being stirred up I think by the outside too that didn’t help, made things a lot worse. But also, just [with] everything that’s going on, it’s hard to be focused and have all your attention and efforts going towards winning the game when there’s so many things going on. So, I think I’m happy for the team that we have clarity, a sense of direction and we can just go be our best moving forward for the next four weeks and then we’ll go from there and see what the next step is. But right now, I definitely think that we had a great day at practice today and we’re ready just to move forward.”
It appears that many players inside the locker room are looking forward to the post-Meyer era. The team is looking forward to the final four games and hope to finish the season strong.
However, Lawrence also acknowledged the role Meyer has in his NFL career and appreciates him for being part of the journey.
"I respect [former Head Coach] Coach [Urban] Meyer and I really appreciate everything he’s done for me. He’s one of the main reasons I’m here. He drafted me, so that will always be there, and I wish him nothing but the best," Lawrence said.
"Obviously, it didn’t work out here, some changes had to be made. But as far as Coach and his future, I wish him nothing but the best."
