Jaguar Report

Jaguars Mid-Week Update: Meyer Makes Coaching Staff Changes As Injury Report Remains the Same

The Jacksonville Jaguars have made coaching staff changes with the addition of Kyle Caskey and the promotion of Carlos Polk ahead of the 2021 season kickoff.
Kassidy Hill|
Jaguars Mid-Week Update: Meyer Makes Coaching Staff Changes As Injury Report Remains the Same
Jaguars Mid-Week Update: Meyer Makes Coaching Staff Changes As Injury Report Remains the Same

The Jacksonville Jaguars are just three days from kicking off the Urban Meyer and Trevor Lawrence era against the Houston Texans, but the team is keeping busy on and off the field as they wait for the 2021 season to begin.

In this week's mid-week update, we look at a new face -- and a new title -- added to Meyer's coaching staff, along with the team's injury situation for Sunday's game.

Coaching staff changes

The Jacksonville Jaguars have made coaching staff changes ahead of the 2021 season kickoff. There is one new addition in Kyle Caskey—hired as an offensive quality control coach—and the club promoted Carlos Polk to assistant special teams coordinator, the team announced today.

Caskey spent 11 years coaching in the NFL, before joining the LSU football program this offseason. His tenure in Baton Rouge was short before he returned to the professional ranks, joining the Jaguars this preseason. 

Before his time at LSU, Caskey was the running backs coach for the Detroit Lions during the 2019-2020 seasons. During that time, he worked under Jaguars Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell. Before joining the Lions, Caskey spent nine seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, in a variety of roles on the offensive side of the ball. 

In 2014, he was promoted to running backs coach and helped develop Joe Mixon, as he led the AFC in rushing in 2018. Under his tutelage, Jeremy Hill posted back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons in 2014 and 2015.

Caskey was a tight end on the Texas A&M football team as well as a discus thrower on the Aggies track and field team. 

Polk first joined the Jaguars coaching staff as the special teams assistant earlier this year as Head Coach Urban Meyer put together his coaching staff. He brings nine years of NFL coaching experience to the table, having spent time with the Dallas Cowboys (2019), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-18) and San Diego Chargers (2010-12). 

In college, Polk played for the Nebraska Huskers as a linebacker and was drafted in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers. He became a dynamic special teams player for the Chargers, even being voted by his teammates as the San Diego special teams player of the year for both the 2002 and 2003 seasons. 

“I’d like to credit Carlos [Polk] and Nick Sorensen. This was a transition we made in the middle of spring. It was hard, it wasn’t very good for a minute, and they worked their tails off," Meyer said on Wednesday. 

"When you take a guy like Rudy Ford who is a guy that, I think he’s the best in the NFL at what he does—and that’s coverage units and then also, he’s a pretty good safety. You take part of your salary cap money and free agency, what we consider to be [one of the] Top 2 or 3 returners in the league. And then we feel really good about our specialists, our long snapper, our punter, our kicker. As far as work ethic, we’re working our tails off to be good at that.”

Injury update

Considering Thursday is one of the biggest days of practice during the lead up to a game, it is key for both sides to which players are practicing, which are limited, and who looks unlikely to be able to make an impact on Sunday when the first whistle is blown. 

For the Jaguars, their Thursday injury report didn't change any from Wednesday. The Jaguars have just two players listed with injuries in cornerbacks Tyson Campbell and Tre Herndon, with Campbell limited with a calf injury and Herndon missing Thursday's practice with a knee injury. 

Meyer said earlier in the week that he expects Campbell -- the No. 33 overall pick in this year's draft -- to play against the Texans, while Herndon is expected to miss the game. Outside of those two players, the Jaguars have no other players whose status for Sunday is currently in doubt. 

“Well, we’re just working a lot of guys right there. I mean, Tre is out [there], he’s working. There’s certain guys—[Chris] Claybrooks over the year has done a really good job there," Jaguars defensive coordinator Joe Cullen said on Thursday. 

"We’re training guys there. Obviously, Tyson [Campbell] he’s limited, so we’ll see if he’s available and ready to go. But we really don’t know yet.”

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Kassidy Hill
KASSIDY HILL

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