Jaxson De Ville
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- Mar 19, 2019
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USA TODAY Sports
As BYU quarterback Zach Wilson builds buzz, all signs continue to point to Trevor Lawrence still being the No. 1 overall pick.
Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, speaking this week to Jaguars.com, praised Lawrence for his Pro Day workout.
“We had extremely high expectations and we were not disappointed,” Meyer said, via Jaguars.com. “But even more than the actual Pro Day was the way he handled it. We found out just days earlier about his left shoulder, that he had a labrum issue that’s very fixable — and by the way, it is fixed. He’s in rehab now. He very well could have said, ‘I’m not going to throw. I’m going to go and you guys take me or not. I’m that good.’ The conversation was similar to this: ‘Hey, what do you think?’ ‘Let’s go.’ That was the answer: ‘Let’s go.’ I’ve seen him throw live at the Fiesta Bowl. I’ve watched him because of my job at FOX and I’ve known Trevor quite a while. I wanted [Brian] Schottenheimer and {Darrell] Bevell to see him live. I explained it to [Lawrence] and he said, ‘Let’s go. Give me the ball. Let’s go.’ Seven days later, he was on the field throwing. Most kids, I would say, would not do that.”
No, most kids would. The rarity is the one who says, “I’m not throwing. I’m the top prospect. Draft me or don’t.”
Of course, anyone who does that gets shamed by the pre-draft ENTERTAIN US! crowd, followed by the unnamed scouts who question whether the player truly loves football. And then the players gets drafted where he would have gotten drafted anyway, and eventually everyone forgets about the stupid huffing and puffing arising from the fact that the kid made a smart business decision.
Meyer also said that he stood close to Lawrence during the Pro Day workout so that he could hear the ball leave his hand — and so that Lawrence could sense Meyer’s presence.
“I want to hear that ball go by my head,” Meyer said. “I do the same thing at practice. And I do want him to know we’re right there. You’ll see me do that with our kickers, too. I’m going to get real close to them. Life’s about how you can respond to pressure.”
With Wilson’s stock rising, the Jaguars will be under more pressure than expected to get the Lawrence pick right. It’s no longer a no-brainer that Lawrence will be the best quarterback of the class. If Wilson ends up being as good as people like Chris Simms think he will be, the first year of Meyer’s NFL tenure could be punctuated by the fact that he could have picked any horse, and that he picked the wrong one.