Trevor Lawrence officially named Jaguars starting QB

It took a while, but it would become official earlier this morning as Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer officially named first-overall pick, Trevor Lawrence, the team’s starting quarterback ahead of its Week 1 matchup against the Houston Texans in September.

Lawrence was told during his position-group meeting that he’d be the starting quarterback.

Meyer also mentioned that Lawrence will also be the starting quarterback against the Dallas Cowboys in the team’s Week 3 preseason matchup on Sunday, Aug. 29 at 1:00 P.M. ET.

Ultimately, the reasoning behind Lawrence being named the starting quarterback this week as opposed to later was about repetition, Meyer said.

“So we wanted them to earn it, as we do with every position. We felt he has, after last performance, it was good, obviously not great, we didn’t run the ball very well,” mentioned Meyer. “But I kind in my mind had known after the second preseason that we kind of have to get someone ready to play in three weeks.”

Over the past few months, the Jaguars attempted a quarterback competition between Lawrence and third-year QB Gardner Minshew II. That competition continued throughout training camp, with the team ultimately alternating first-team repetitions between the two quarterbacks on a daily basis.

Following the team’s two preseason matchups, and weeks of practice it was clear who the better of the two were. Lawrence excelled during practice, and while the offense has sputtered during the two games, scoring just three points as a first-team offense, Lawrence was the more impressive player.

Over two preseason games, Lawrence has completed 20 out of 32 of his passes for 184 yards. While the numbers haven’t been overly impressive, Lawrence has made several throws that one would expect out of the starting quarterback and one chosen first overall.

The need for more reps in practice as the team prepares for its game against Houston in a few weeks is obvious as the offense attempts to pick up some steam. Naming Lawrence the starter now gives the team an ability to prepare, and the question became how concerning it’s been for Meyer and the Jaguars coaching staff that the team simply hasn’t executed on offense.

“We are concerned about that,” Meyer said of the offenses’ output over two games. “Especially after - week one I wasn’t because we just didn’t show much - this week two. The intent was to run the ball have some good play action, only averaged 1.8 yards per carry because we took away the QB runs, and it’s not good enough.”

The Jaguars were unable to get anything going on the ground this week against the Saints, accounting for just 32 yards on 18 carries by its running backs unit.

So, what does Meyer ultimately want to see out of Lawrence moving forward? It’s simple he says, score points.

“We gotta score some damn points. We weren’t very good the redzone, it’s like CJ [Beathard] I think scored every touchdown so far.”

Beathard impressed on Monday, scoring two touchdowns on just 14 attempts. Due to his performance, the backup QB position is still open, Meyer says.

For now, Lawrence will finally receive all of the first-team repetitions in practice, and the team will look forward to facing the Texans on opening day in September.