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Jacksonville Jaguars Minicamp Report

By River City Rage
Reggie Nelson looking Awesome (This picture by "BosnianJagsFan" at Jagnation!)

As most of you all may know, this weekend was the Jaguars first Mini-Camp of the off-season. Sadly, due to my very long and tedious move across the southeast I was unable to partake in the madness and excitement of watching grown men touch each other in their underwear while making irrational judgments about players three months away from legitimate football. Thankfully for me, there are some WAY smarter folks out there who actually know what they're talking about with this sort of thing. So rather than fake it and act like I was there or anything of that sort, let's take a look at some valid opinions about the events of this weekend.

Note: The Mini-Camp was only open to the fans and media on Saturday, so we've only got one days observation to chew on.

One of my favorite posters on the Jaguars Message Boards, FBT, is now one of the lead writers over at Jaguars MVN. His "recap" is particularly good and can be read in its entirety here..

One featured event of the day was the punting drills by our 4th round pick, Adam Podlesh. FBT says

If the Jaguars were more intent on directional punting and hang-time than 60-70 yard punts, they have gotten their guy. He can boom it too, putting up a couple of 60+ yard punts during the session. He has the ability to get plenty of distance on his punts. His capability of kicking it to either sideline is one talent that has been lacking for the Jaguars in recent years.
Given that we ranked in the bottom third in just about every punting category possible, this is a nice change of pace. I just hope he can do it during the real thing, a top of the round pick, even in the 4th on a punter is a might big vote of confidence in an untested player.

Another observation that I like is the emphasis on tight ends and especially hearing that Marcades is making great catches and practicing well. FBT noted that

It is clear that the Tight End is going to be an integral part of Koetter's new offensive scheme. There were a lot of 2 TE sets that were run during practice, and in almost every case, these guys weren't in there to block.
. I'm a big fan of the two TE set, especially given our running game. Although we currently lack the hard core blocking TE that we had in Kyle Brady.

Speed is a consistent theme in all the Mini-Camp reports that I've seen, whether it be WR's Mike Walker and Dennis Northcutt standing out as fast and sticky fingered receivers. I just hope the influx of new blood invigorates the receivers, I'd be very happy to see one of our first rounders relegated, even temporarily, to the bench as a message that it's anyone's game.

Obviously this is just mini-camp, it's no contact, and it's early in the pre-pre-preseason to start making too many serious criticisms and judgments about what we see. I do appreciate the emphasis on passing and offense in the one day exhibition. A lot of criticism was launched at Byron for working out on his own rather than working with his receivers at the Jaguars Facility, but all signs indicate that he's not only trimmer, but still sharp with his WR corps.

Absent from the Mini-Camp was DE Bobby McCray, who's holding out for a contract. Rookie DE Brian Smith (4th round) and 7th round OT Andrew Carnahan did not practice due to injury. Also not practicing were Donovin Darius, George Wrighster, Reggie Hayward, and Marcus Stroud. All are rehabbing from last year.

Well, that's mini-camp. Next for this site is a closer, much closer look at our Wide Recivers, and a guessing game involving the depth chart. That's half the fun of predictions, I can already throw out what I said here. Anyhow, have a great Monday!

-Chris

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