Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Liam Coen on Jaguars' 2026 Captains, Season Opener Readiness
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Does the intensity just kind of naturally crank up a
- 0:02Speaker 1: little bit as you kind of get closer and closer
- 0:04Speaker 1: to that first one?
- 0:06Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely does.
- 0:07Speaker 3: Uh, we had a team meeting this morning and seemed
- 0:10Speaker 3: like everybody was kind of chomping at the.
- 0:12Speaker 2: Bit, ready to go.
- 0:13Speaker 3: Um, so much of training camp is going against yourselves.
- 0:19Speaker 2: You mix it in with the joints, which is great.
- 0:22Speaker 3: Um, And that simulated work that we got at the
- 0:26Speaker 3: joints gives you some, some glimpse and obviously competing against
- 0:29Speaker 3: other teams and quality opponents.
- 0:33Speaker 2: And so it just becomes more real. Absolutely.
- 0:36Speaker 3: The message this morning was, you know, using all of
- 0:41Speaker 3: this week, like using this bonus week for our advantage,
- 0:45Speaker 3: knowing what the weather is going to be like possibly
- 0:48Speaker 3: on Sunday and, And working through it, we're practicing a
- 0:51Speaker 3: little later now in the week. And so those guys
- 0:53Speaker 3: have to continue to adjust to those things. And I
- 0:57Speaker 3: thought the mood in the room was good. And they
- 1:01Speaker 3: seemed pretty excited to get going.
- 1:03Speaker 1: And you rolled out the captain announcement a little bit
- 1:07Speaker 1: earlier this morning. Can you talk a little bit about
- 1:09Speaker 1: those guys and just kind of what their leadership means
- 1:11Speaker 1: to the team?
- 1:12Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was a representation of, look, we
- 1:16Speaker 3: had a ton of guys today. on this team get
- 1:19Speaker 3: get votes and get a decent amount of votes wasn't
- 1:22Speaker 3: just like the one or two that you get because
- 1:25Speaker 3: you're friends with somebody there was a a lot of
- 1:28Speaker 3: quality human beings and and people that were in the
- 1:32Speaker 3: mix to become captains um you know felt like the
- 1:36Speaker 3: additions of jacoby myers and ross really gave us um
- 1:42Speaker 3: you know two new two new guys that weren't on
- 1:44Speaker 3: the crew last year and um, they're pretty obvious as
- 1:48Speaker 3: to what their impact and influence has been on this team. Uh,
- 1:53Speaker 3: especially Ross with, I think he is really, um, ascending
- 1:57Speaker 3: as a leader on this team. Um, I think he's,
- 2:01Speaker 3: he's really, I mean, look, you three-time pro bowler, uh,
- 2:05Speaker 3: that speaks for itself, but I, I think his maturity presence, um,
- 2:11Speaker 3: accountability in there as well, I think will really help, um,
- 2:16Speaker 3: Logan and Cam and those guys as they lead that
- 2:18Speaker 3: special teams unit.
- 2:19Speaker 2: And I think Jacoby, we all saw what he did.
- 2:23Speaker 3: I mean, it wasn't like he was a captain last year,
- 2:27Speaker 3: but he may as well have been one in terms
- 2:30Speaker 3: of his impact and influence on our team. And I
- 2:33Speaker 3: think Trevor, Hainsey, Josh, Foye, and J. Lou, those guys
- 2:37Speaker 3: have continued to ascend in the leadership category. But we
- 2:42Speaker 3: had a lot of guys that we could have named captains.
- 2:45Speaker 3: So it's a good group. We'll continue to do the
- 2:49Speaker 3: game captains every week and just to continue the development
- 2:55Speaker 3: of our leadership group.
- 2:57Speaker 2: Thanks, Liam. Thank you.
- 2:58Speaker 4: Hey, Coach.
- 3:00Speaker 5: Just with the captain stuff still, in terms of Trevor Lawrence,
- 3:04Speaker 5: obviously quarterback is usually named a captain, it seems like.
- 3:09Speaker 5: kind of automatically, uh, just in the last calendar year, the,
- 3:12Speaker 5: what have you seen out of Trevor just to really
- 3:14Speaker 5: put in your mind that this guy definitely deserves to
- 3:17Speaker 5: be a captain?
- 3:17Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you look at obviously the consistency towards
- 3:22Speaker 3: the back half of the year and his play, but
- 3:24Speaker 3: also having to, you know, I think if you're a
- 3:27Speaker 3: teammate of Trevor and you see what he's gone through
- 3:31Speaker 3: to get to where he's at, it hasn't just been
- 3:33Speaker 3: like this smooth.
- 3:34Speaker 2: Straight line.
- 3:35Speaker 3: So the guy has, uh, you know, he's dealt with
- 3:40Speaker 3: some stuff, right? He's dealt with some highs, some lows,
- 3:44Speaker 3: some adversity in his career, injuries, whatever it is, and
- 3:48Speaker 3: come out on the other side of things and, you know,
- 3:52Speaker 3: needs to go and prove it again, right? Continue to
- 3:54Speaker 3: prove what he wants to be in this league in
- 3:57Speaker 3: terms of a consistent competitor. But I think his teammates,
- 4:03Speaker 3: I've just seen the ownership, obviously, of the offense.
- 4:07Speaker 2: And the entire offense sees that.
- 4:08Speaker 3: I mean, he got every single vote on the offensive
- 4:11Speaker 3: side of the ball, so that's something that I think,
- 4:15Speaker 3: like you mentioned, sometimes organically occurs from the quarterback position,
- 4:20Speaker 3: but when you get every single vote on the offense,
- 4:23Speaker 3: it's kind of telling that the guys look to him,
- 4:27Speaker 3: and he has a way of doing it. Like, I
- 4:30Speaker 3: think he's taking more guys on the side at times
- 4:36Speaker 3: throughout this offseason.
- 4:38Speaker 2: Maybe than he did a year ago, right?
- 4:40Speaker 3: And his leadership style is, you know, unique in his
- 4:46Speaker 3: own way, right? He doesn't have to be a rah-rah
- 4:48Speaker 3: guy out in front. It's the way that he prepares
- 4:52Speaker 3: throughout the week, the way that he holds his teammates
- 4:55Speaker 3: to a standard of preparation throughout the week. I think
- 5:00Speaker 3: that that's kind of where you've seen a little bit
- 5:02Speaker 3: of his evolution as a leader on this team.
- 5:05Speaker 5: And then just just last one for me. Obviously, last year,
- 5:09Speaker 5: you guys entered the season kind of with no expectations, almost,
- 5:12Speaker 5: you know, obviously coming off of a four win season.
- 5:15Speaker 5: This year, you're coming off of a 13 win season.
- 5:17Speaker 5: Just how how have you seen the team respond perhaps
- 5:21Speaker 5: differently to last year as it is this season?
- 5:24Speaker 2: Yeah, I think when you when you get, you see improvement, right?
- 5:31Speaker 3: Last year we saw some improvements made, whether it be
- 5:35Speaker 3: individually per the units and obviously as a team, as
- 5:39Speaker 3: a whole, it just kind of, it raises the standard
- 5:45Speaker 3: and the way that the guys operate on a day-to-day
- 5:48Speaker 3: basis becomes that standard. Like every day when you wake
- 5:53Speaker 3: up and come in the building, like, those standards and
- 5:57Speaker 3: way we operate the way we meet walk through practice
- 6:00Speaker 3: and then obviously go out and compete on Sundays there
- 6:03Speaker 3: just becomes a standard of the way that we do
- 6:06Speaker 3: things and then when we don't meet the standard whether
- 6:09Speaker 3: it's in a meeting or a walkthrough or a practice
- 6:12Speaker 3: well it gets addressed like we we can't just let
- 6:15Speaker 3: it go and say well we're we won 13 games
- 6:18Speaker 3: last year we can have a bad practice we can
- 6:20Speaker 3: have a bad meeting or We cannot be on the screws,
- 6:24Speaker 3: whether it's in whatever setting we're in. So I think
- 6:28Speaker 3: the standard of performance in the locker room has elevated
- 6:33Speaker 3: to where maybe I don't always have to say, hey, guys,
- 6:37Speaker 3: that's not the standard. This is not how we operate.
- 6:40Speaker 3: This is not what we want it to look like.
- 6:43Speaker 3: I think they know more now in terms of the
- 6:45Speaker 3: way that looks. I think you look at days like
- 6:49Speaker 3: New Orleans down at the joint where, We don't gain
- 6:53Speaker 3: a yard in the first 10 plays or whatever it is.
- 6:57Speaker 3: But nobody had this bright-eyed look or like, what's happening
- 7:01Speaker 3: right now? How could this be happening to us? We're
- 7:04Speaker 3: supposed to be good or we're supposed to be better
- 7:07Speaker 3: than these guys. That wasn't the vibe. It was more, hey,
- 7:13Speaker 3: we need to reset a little bit here. And the
- 7:16Speaker 3: way that we come to work every day needs to
- 7:18Speaker 3: be reflective of our energy in the way that we prepare.
- 7:23Speaker 3: So expectations, I think, are something that you earn in ways,
- 7:30Speaker 3: but it's more so just an expectation of standards than
- 7:33Speaker 3: it is truly performance, like results-based, if you will.
- 7:37Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 7:38Speaker 6: Yep.
- 7:39Speaker 7: We'll go to DRock, then to O'Halloran.
- 7:45Speaker 6: Hey, Liam, as a young quarterback, how hard is it
- 7:48Speaker 6: to deal with hearing all the time, especially going into
- 7:52Speaker 6: an offseason, stop turning the ball over, quit turning the
- 7:54Speaker 6: ball over, you've got to cut those down? Does that
- 7:57Speaker 6: weigh on guys, you think, or can it weigh on guys?
- 8:01Speaker 6: I don't know.
- 8:03Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it can for sure maybe make
- 8:07Speaker 3: a quarterback gun shy in ways, if that's something that
- 8:11Speaker 3: you're constantly hitting them on, on a day-to-day basis. And
- 8:15Speaker 3: he's hearing it in front of the group and in
- 8:19Speaker 3: front of the meetings and in every single setting he's in.
- 8:23Speaker 3: That's definitely something that I think as a quarterback myself,
- 8:27Speaker 3: if that's all you're hearing and you're constantly hearing that,
- 8:31Speaker 3: that you can definitely become a little bit, you know,
- 8:34Speaker 3: gun-shy in ways of not wanting to fit balls into
- 8:38Speaker 3: windows or take some chances and Um, that's definitely not
- 8:41Speaker 3: something that we've communicated a lot to Trevor, right? We
- 8:46Speaker 3: always want to, um, take care of the ball. The
- 8:49Speaker 3: ball is the main thing. You can't win many games by, uh,
- 8:53Speaker 3: turning it over at a high clip. And so, um,
- 8:56Speaker 3: it's something that we, we have.
- 8:58Speaker 2: To be aware of.
- 8:59Speaker 3: You have to have in the back of your mind,
- 9:01Speaker 3: because every time a quarterback has the ball hands or
- 9:03Speaker 3: any skill player for that matter, they have the organization
- 9:07Speaker 3: in their hands, right? Like the, that that's the, way
- 9:10Speaker 3: that we try to operate is the ball is the
- 9:14Speaker 3: main thing, but you try not to make it a negative, right?
- 9:19Speaker 3: You try to make it so like, Hey guys, we
- 9:22Speaker 3: want you to play freely. We want you to go,
- 9:26Speaker 3: you know, take some chances and know when maybe it
- 9:28Speaker 3: is those times to do it versus not right. Understanding
- 9:33Speaker 3: the flow of a game and the game within the
- 9:35Speaker 3: game at the quarterback position, I think is really important.
- 9:40Speaker 3: for those guys to understand so that you can play freely,
- 9:44Speaker 3: take your shots and your chances when you want and
- 9:46Speaker 3: when you need to or when it's necessary, but also
- 9:49Speaker 3: understand that we're not trying to be reckless and a
- 9:52Speaker 3: sack or throwing the ball away or a check down
- 9:56Speaker 3: is a little bit better in some of those situations.
- 10:00Speaker 6: Trevor had some issues with ball security in the pocket
- 10:04Speaker 6: early in his career. Um, but he's cut those way down.
- 10:07Speaker 6: And even after you've had him, you know, say take
- 10:09Speaker 6: off with the legs more and, you know, make.
- 10:11Speaker 2: Some plays way down on the thumbs there. Why do
- 10:13Speaker 2: you think that is?
- 10:15Speaker 3: I think maturity, um, pocket awareness and feel as a
- 10:21Speaker 3: young quarterback, I think is challenging, especially when you're trying
- 10:24Speaker 3: to process all of the information that these guys have
- 10:28Speaker 3: to process and going through the pre-snap mechanics, the reads,
- 10:33Speaker 3: the thoughts, all the thing that goes in.
- 10:36Speaker 2: It's very challenging, I think.
- 10:39Speaker 3: For those young guys to have that pocket feel and
- 10:42Speaker 3: maybe have the internal clock of when I need to
- 10:45Speaker 3: get it out versus when I can go extend some
- 10:48Speaker 3: of these plays, you look at so many of these,
- 10:52Speaker 3: you know, quarterbacks that have continued to ascend throughout their careers.
- 10:56Speaker 3: That's an area in which you see so much growth
- 10:59Speaker 3: is pocket movements, pocket timing, two hands on the ball.
- 11:05Speaker 3: So many of these guys end up maybe taking a
- 11:07Speaker 3: hand off the ball in order to make a play
- 11:10Speaker 3: inside the pocket. And now you got somebody coming over
- 11:13Speaker 3: the back of you and being able to strip sack.
- 11:16Speaker 3: And so, I think it comes with experience. It comes
- 11:20Speaker 3: with reps and feel. I mean, that's what the pocket is.
- 11:25Speaker 3: It's all feel. It's all instincts because you're not looking
- 11:30Speaker 3: at them, right? You're not able to see everything directly.
- 11:33Speaker 3: It's all in your periphery and being able to have feel.
- 11:38Speaker 3: So I think that comes with a ton of reps.
- 11:40Speaker 3: There's nothing like an NFL pocket. I mean, it's just
- 11:43Speaker 3: there's nothing that you can simulate. in college or in
- 11:48Speaker 3: practice that is true of a Sunday game pocket. It's
- 11:55Speaker 3: third down and six, man coverage. They're bringing five. You
- 12:00Speaker 3: got man in the back end. Guys have to win.
- 12:02Speaker 3: The ball has to come out on one hitch or
- 12:05Speaker 3: two at the most, and you've got guys trying to
- 12:08Speaker 3: kill you. So there's nothing you can truly do to
- 12:11Speaker 3: simulate that, and reps always help.
- 12:15Speaker 6: Thanks, Lance.
- 12:17Speaker 3: Here we have a couple for you uh with pregnant
- 12:20Speaker 3: what kind of uh nastiness and edge can he bring
- 12:23Speaker 3: right away to the run game yeah i think um
- 12:27Speaker 3: emmanuel has done a nice job so far fitting in
- 12:30Speaker 3: with the group um while being himself in a lot
- 12:34Speaker 3: of ways you can see that the guys are all
- 12:36Speaker 3: starting to hang with them more and have lunch together
- 12:38Speaker 3: more and just connecting and um We liked him a
- 12:43Speaker 3: lot coming out because of his play style.
- 12:47Speaker 2: He's a finisher.
- 12:48Speaker 3: He finishes blocks down the field. He covers down. He
- 12:52Speaker 3: cleans up the trash in the pocket. He instinctively did
- 12:57Speaker 3: a lot of those things that we like and that
- 12:59Speaker 3: we try to preach on a day-to-day basis.
- 13:03Speaker 2: I think he's a people mover in ways. You can't teach.
- 13:08Speaker 3: Somewhat of the size and strength and ability to stay
- 13:11Speaker 3: connected to people, whether it's at the first or second level.
- 13:16Speaker 3: So he's been able to give us a little bit
- 13:18Speaker 3: of that in terms of just hand strength.
- 13:22Speaker 2: Like he is a strong man.
- 13:25Speaker 3: Being obviously a younger player that has a lot to
- 13:28Speaker 3: learn and will grow a ton throughout this season, but
- 13:33Speaker 3: excited about maybe being able to run at him in
- 13:36Speaker 3: ways too. And then secondly for me, will UMass make
- 13:40Speaker 3: the college football playoffs? That's a tough one to put
- 13:45Speaker 3: me on the spot on, but absolutely, man.
- 13:47Speaker 2: Let's go. How much pride did you take in that one?
- 13:51Speaker 2: That was awesome, man.
- 13:52Speaker 3: I texted Joe and Athletic Director Ryan Bamford and Assistant
- 13:58Speaker 3: AD Thor Bjorn towards the end of the fourth quarter
- 14:01Speaker 3: and Was really proud to watch that entire game, really,
- 14:06Speaker 3: from start to finish. And I recruited Pop Watson, the
- 14:10Speaker 3: quarterback there, who's a coach's kid out in Springfield, Mass.
- 14:14Speaker 3: And been really always a fan of his game. And
- 14:19Speaker 3: it looks like they have gotten better. I know they
- 14:21Speaker 3: flipped the roster a ton over a one-year period. And
- 14:26Speaker 3: there's not many coaches I have a lot, you know,
- 14:28Speaker 3: the respect I have for Joe.
- 14:30Speaker 2: As a human being and as a coach, I couldn't
- 14:33Speaker 2: be more proud.
- 14:34Speaker 1: All right.
- 14:35Speaker 6: Thanks Liam.
- 14:35Speaker 7: See you Wednesday. Thank you guys. We'll go to John Shipley.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Hey Liam.
- 14:43Speaker 4: Thanks for doing this. When it comes to first year coordinator,
- 14:46Speaker 4: like Mike Rudenberg, I mean, how much you look at
- 14:49Speaker 4: obviously what they did in the preseason, but maybe the
- 14:51Speaker 4: past stops he's been at when preparing for like an
- 14:53Speaker 4: early season matchup like this.
- 14:55Speaker 3: Yeah, that is definitely the challenge is, um, you know,
- 14:58Speaker 3: you go back in some of his lineage of watching
- 15:02Speaker 3: games or, or, you know, teams he's been a part
- 15:05Speaker 3: of systems that he's been a part of. Um, you know, you,
- 15:10Speaker 3: you watch obviously the jets, you watch Atlanta, you still
- 15:12Speaker 3: watch Cleveland a lot because of the personnel and some
- 15:15Speaker 3: of the things that they may be trying to keep similar.
- 15:18Speaker 2: Um, he'll have his twist for sure.
- 15:21Speaker 3: And that's always the challenge going up against the first
- 15:25Speaker 3: time coordinator, um, because you don't truly know the DNA, right?
- 15:29Speaker 3: You don't know his flow as a play caller.
- 15:32Speaker 2: You don't know what is.
- 15:33Speaker 3: He going to maybe lean on in some specific situation, right?
- 15:38Speaker 3: So it's definitely a game that we have to be
- 15:41Speaker 3: ready to adjust to some certain things and have some
- 15:44Speaker 3: patience with, but also have an attacking mindset. And a
- 15:48Speaker 3: lot of this game, especially in week one, it's so
- 15:51Speaker 3: much about our execution, about our guys, our team, like,
- 15:56Speaker 3: You want to be aware of their players, aware of
- 15:59Speaker 3: their game records and some of the things that they do.
- 16:03Speaker 3: But it's so much more about our team, our execution,
- 16:08Speaker 3: our effort and our ability to respond to whatever does occur.
- 16:13Speaker 6: Right.
- 16:13Speaker 2: Both positive and negative.
- 16:15Speaker 3: So I respect where he's come from, the style of
- 16:19Speaker 3: play in which I know he's going to probably try
- 16:22Speaker 3: to bring to that defense and it's been a damn
- 16:25Speaker 3: good defense for a number of years.
- 16:27Speaker 2: And so you look at every yard against them, it's challenging.
- 16:32Speaker 3: And that's something that we expect them to come out
- 16:34Speaker 3: and play hard, physical, violent, and definitely play some man coverage. Excellent.
- 16:44Speaker 7: That's all we have time for today. Thank you, Coach.
- 16:51Speaker 2: Who do you got there? Who's, uh, is that me, Liam?
- 16:53Speaker 8: I was the only guy left with my hand.
- 16:56Speaker 2: Why don't you take, why don't we just finish you
- 16:57Speaker 2: off here, Sam?
- 16:58Speaker 7: Okay.
- 16:58Speaker 8: I appreciate it, Liam. You touched on it earlier. Um,
- 17:03Speaker 8: who's responsible for holding that standard? You guys won so
- 17:06Speaker 8: many games last year. You, you have some responsibility, but
- 17:09Speaker 8: with so many guys coming back, you're leaning on the players, right?
- 17:13Speaker 2: To do that. Absolutely.
- 17:15Speaker 3: I mean, I think you look at, uh, Offensively, on
- 17:19Speaker 3: the offensive line, Robert Hainsey's been a consistent. I think
- 17:23Speaker 3: Ezra Cleveland over the last few weeks has taken a
- 17:26Speaker 3: step as a leader, specifically with his style of play
- 17:29Speaker 3: in the joint practices. He came out and set a
- 17:33Speaker 3: tone in those joint practices, and you saw the rest
- 17:36Speaker 3: of the room and the rest of the group, really
- 17:39Speaker 3: all 11 on offense, continue to try to elevate their
- 17:42Speaker 3: physicality and standard. I think on the perimeter on offense,
- 17:46Speaker 3: it's Jacoby. Parker, BT, like really those three as a whole,
- 17:51Speaker 3: like when they are going and those guys are rolling,
- 17:54Speaker 3: I mean, everybody feels it. Everybody does. You know, in
- 17:57Speaker 3: the tight end room, Brent Strange sets the tone every day.
- 18:00Speaker 3: I mean, that's the way he operates, his practice habits,
- 18:03Speaker 3: the way he plays violent. That's him, you know, and
- 18:07Speaker 3: I think in the running back room, what's cool to
- 18:08Speaker 3: see offensively, it's been a collaboration with LaQuinn Allen being out,
- 18:13Speaker 3: who's a little bit of a an energizer bunny in
- 18:16Speaker 3: a lot of ways in the way that he kind
- 18:17Speaker 3: of comes to work every day. Tootin and Chris and
- 18:21Speaker 3: Amir Abdullah have had to kind of lead the way.
- 18:25Speaker 2: In a lot of ways.
- 18:26Speaker 3: And so Trevor, obviously being the core principle of it
- 18:29Speaker 3: all offensively and then defensively, I think what's nice about
- 18:33Speaker 3: having three captains on defense is you got every level
- 18:36Speaker 3: of the defense kind of accounted for. But man, on
- 18:40Speaker 3: the D-line, I mean, Eric Arnstead got a ton of
- 18:42Speaker 3: votes to be a captain. Trayvon Walker did as well.
- 18:45Speaker 3: And then if you look at a linebacker, Foye, Dennis
- 18:49Speaker 3: Gardeck got a ton of votes as well as a team,
- 18:52Speaker 3: whether it was on special teams or defense. In the secondary,
- 18:56Speaker 3: Eric Murray got a ton of votes as well. Antonio
- 18:58Speaker 3: Johnson got.
- 18:59Speaker 2: Votes to be a captain. So you look at J.
- 19:01Speaker 3: Lou, Eric, Antonio, some of those guys in the back.
- 19:05Speaker 3: Buster Brown got votes to be a captain. So it's
- 19:08Speaker 3: like I think we can look to a lot of
- 19:12Speaker 3: those guys I just mentioned, not just the eight captains
- 19:15Speaker 3: that we named that are going to walk out there
- 19:18Speaker 3: and be representing our team. I've been very pleased with
- 19:22Speaker 3: the leadership on our team over the last year, and
- 19:27Speaker 3: more so, like you said, who's holding the standard. I
- 19:30Speaker 3: don't have to walk in the locker room or call
- 19:32Speaker 3: the captains up or the leaders on this team up
- 19:34Speaker 3: all the time and say, hey, guys, we need more.
- 19:38Speaker 3: I need more from you. Will that time come? I'm
- 19:41Speaker 3: sure it will. But I've been pleased with it so
- 19:44Speaker 3: far in terms of the way the guys hold each
- 19:46Speaker 3: other to a standard.
- 19:48Speaker 2: You know, that's definitely been exciting. See, now that was
- 19:51Speaker 2: a great answer, too. So thank you.
- 19:54Speaker 6: Of course.
- 19:56Speaker 7: Thank you.
- 19:57Speaker 3: All right.
- 19:58Speaker 2: All right, guys.