JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A mock scrimmage at the stadium on a Friday night. Sign me up, please. This was a pleasant surprise going in. I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the team, but it was a full-on mock game. National anthem. Kickoffs. The whole 9 yards — minus some of the tackling — but we will take what we can get. The competition was high, and the offense and defense didn’t disappoint.
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Let’s start with Travis Hunter. I guess that feels like that is where every Jaguars conversation starts these days. Hunter started the game with the offense and then switched over to finish with the defense.
On the offensive side, he was really able to show how explosive he can be with the ball in his hands. The Jags seem like they’re going to find ways to just let him be “nothing more than himself,” to borrow a James Gladstone-ism.
Training camp coverage
The guys dealing on offense had a pretty go day as well.
Trevor Lawrence was dealing. I’m not a QB whisperer, but he just looked comfortable and confident.
“I thought he played awesome,” said Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.
Seems like a pretty good review from Coen. Lawrence threw a pair of TD passes, one to Brian Thomas Jr. and one to Brenton Strange. It was a good night, but it wasn’t perfect. There was one interception by cornerback Zechariah McPhearson in the end zone. Coen didn’t seem worried about it, basically saying that Lawrence needed to throw that pass away. If the worst thing you can take away from the scrimmage is that there was a play in a mock game where the QB should have thrown it away, I’d say that is a pretty good day.
Notebook
- Arik Armstead (sore back), is day-to-day and did not dress for the scrimmage.
- Dennis Gardeck participated in individual drills, but will be held out of the mock game as he works back into football shape.
- Bhayshul Tuten (hamstring) participated in warm-up activities, but was held out of the mock game as a precaution. He will return to full team activities next week.
- The light has come on for Dyami Brown. It was a slow start to training camp, but over the last few practices, the pieces have come together. Brown has created explosive play after explosive play. In the scrimmage, that trend continued. Brown is going to be a active part of the Jags offense, and this is a good sign of things to come.
- Cam Little has infinite range. He nailed a kick from 59 yards that had plenty of leg left.
- If we are still talking about who RB1 is, I think we can stop. Hand the keys to Tank Bigsby.
- The safety rotation continues. Andrew Wingard got the first crack with the 1’s, but Antonio Johnson was in when the first-team offense matched up with the first-team defense.
- Travon Walker was a force he was unblockable. He was probably being blocked by guys who won’t be on the 53 most of the night, but he took advantage.
- False starts were a bit of an issue for the offensive line.
- Anton Harrison at left tackle? For the first time, we saw Harrison line up at left tackle. There has always been talk, but this is the first time we have seen it. Coen said they are trying to see who their swing tackle can be with Cole Van Lanen hurt.
