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Press Pass | Grant Udinski on Opportunity To Be Jaguars OC, Trevor Lawrence and Run Game · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How are you guys? Obviously it's a great opportunity for you,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: especially being as you know as you are. Did you
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: have any I don't know any misgivings because you weren't
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: gonna be the play caller or did you feel hey,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: if it's a coordinator job, I can I can learn
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from a guy who's done it and done it well. No, No,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: no misgivings at all. This is a phenomenal opportunity to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: work with the guys here, the staff here, the organization here.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: So once I found out about this opportunity, I probably
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: don't have enough word to describe how fired up I
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: was to be able to work with with Liam and
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the rest of the staff. So I know that element
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that part of it. The play calling won't be a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: part of my role, but I'm looking forward to to
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: support and help the team win in any way. I
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: can obvious connection that you sort of had with Liam.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Was it was direct? Was it indirect? How you know?
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Cause I think all when you interviewed for these things,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it's always somebody's either recommending him or there's a direct relationship. Yeah,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I think there's an element of all of those things
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: that come together. I think Ultimately, that's probably a little
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: bit of a question for Lea more so than me,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: But I think he takes into account the indirect recommendations,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: but the direct relationship is ultimately probably most important in
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: my opinion, and from my perspective, at least, my relationship
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: with him, because he's the guy who I'm gonna be
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: working with every day, and he's the guy who's gonna
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: have to deal with me every single day. So if
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: that's not good, then that's not a recipe for a
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: good product. Why did you want to work with plays
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: specifically with about him or the offense that was really
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the track for Well, that'll be a long list too,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: So probably the same reasons that he's hired here, not
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: just his track record, but what he's done with quarterbacks,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: what he's done with offense, what he's done the run game,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the past game. There is an added benefit of us
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: seeing things similarly, you know, philosophically or schematically, but in
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: terms of the football stuff. There's a wide array of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: things that I can learn from him and hopefully that
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: I can bring him and add to this team and
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to our offense. But from the football side of it,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: we see things very similar in terms of how we
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: want to do things and how we want to attack
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: things philosophically, you know, talk about being fundamentally sound, talk
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: about attacking on offense, situational masters, and the most importantly
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: being tough. So having that shared identity and that kind
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: of shared vision, that alignment from the top all the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: way down throughout our staff is a big deal to me,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and I know it's a big deal to us collectively.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: And then on top of that, like I said, he's
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: got to deal with me every single day, whether he
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: likes it or not. Now, so there has to be
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: some level of the person, the human being, the guy
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that he is, that comes into play that makes me
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: ultimately so excited to be here and work with him
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and everyone else here on Trevor and how do you
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: establish that relationship Channey And Yeah, I'm beyond fired up
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to work with Trevor. Like I said about Lee, I'm
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: probably the same thing with Trevor. I don't have enough
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: words to explain how excited I am for the opportunity
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to work with him. The relationship side of it is
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: something that takes time, not just me getting to know him,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: but him getting to know me. This is a collaborative process.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: There are no dictatorships or anything like that in this
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: business or on our team. Just like we're collaborative as
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: a staff, we're collaborative with our players. So ultimately, if
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: the players come first, players and most players over plays,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: like Liam's probably told you, guys a number of times,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: and if that's true, then we have to be willing
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: to go above and beyond and do whatever it takes
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: to put them in the best position for success. And
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: part of that is committing the time and effort and
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: resources to forming those relationships. You look at some of
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the other players that the Jaguars have one offs right now,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: let's stands out. I think that's still something that we're
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: looking at. As we put all this stuff together and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: you get to know guys and get to learn guys,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you don't want to come to any premature conclusions on
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: guys based on the past because you're focused on the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: present and moving forward. But just like I to talk
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: about with Trevor, you're excited about the opportunity to work
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: with the potential that you see in these guys, whether
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: it is upfront, out on the edges, receiver position, tight
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: end position, the backs. Trevor basically down the line across
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the roster, there's a lot of excitement and tools and
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: pieces that you can create a vision for within our
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: system in a multitude of ways, and using those guys
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: to attack defenses in creative and innovative ways. Where like
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I said, if we're trying to maximize our chance of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: players success, building things around those guys and what they
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: do well and taking advantage of that potential to get
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the most out of them. So our goal will to
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: bring the best out of each guy and hopefully take
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: that talent that you see and are so excited about
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and make each guy kind of have the best year
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: of his career respectively, whatever that may look like. But
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: it's that individual process first of bringing out the best
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: in those guys and that talent, and that will hopefully
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: create a good product as a whole collectively. Being with
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a Sean last year in Minnesota, because what is it
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: about him that makes him such a possive addition to
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the staff with you guys, Yeah, Sean brings a lot
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to the table in terms of, once again, football wise,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the same thing I talked about with the coaching staff,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: whether it's schematic, philosophically, football wise, the alignment there from
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Liam all the way to myself and down throughout the staff.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: But also the type of guy is the energy brings,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the relationships he forms the players, the relationships he forms
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: about staff players. You're gonna get a genuine, hard working,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: caring guy that that's going to go above and beyond,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: just like hopefully the rest of us will to bring
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: out the best in the players and each of us
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: as staff members. The great thing about our relationship and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: kind of having that foundation there is he can be
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: honest with me. I can be honest with him. I'm
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: not going to be perfect and I'm not going to
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: pretend to be perfect. So you need to have those
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: relationships and open and honest communication so that way people
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: can tell you when I screw something up or misspeak,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and thankfully I can lean heavily on Sean to do
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that for me. And then those three years in Minnesota
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with Kevin, Just how much did he influence you and
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: what you really learn about coaching game? Im? Yeah, well,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: how much time do we have, but he he influenced
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: me in probably more ways than I even recognize. To
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: be honest with you, in terms of the game, seeing
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: the past game, seeing how you build an offense, seeing
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: how you teach an offense and build that progression, and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: then most importantly probably the quarterback position, how you develop
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: that starting from the ground up, laying the foundation and
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: scaffolding things in a true progression that allows those guys
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: to learn and grow in an environment that maximizes their
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: chance of success. So I could probably go on for
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: hours about what that kind of process looks like, But
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: from a football standpoint, he kind of covers all the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: bases in terms of you learn things explicitly and implicitly
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: in terms of just concepts or certain schemes and philosophies,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: but all the way down to the detail on how
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: those concepts are executed, or how those concepts are implemented,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: or how those content acepts our game plan. I think
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: that's something that he does at a really high level,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: and the results kind of speak for itself with him
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and this success he's had there in Minnesota and even
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: even prior to that, and then on top of that,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: my role, I was in a very fortunate position to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: be with him and spend so much time with him,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: seeing the connector that he is and the type of
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: person that he is, and the impact that he has
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: on people's lives, not just in the meeting room and
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: with us as coaches or with the players, but even
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: beyond with the entire organization from everybody in that building.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Everyone that walks through that building feels his impact and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: his presence and the culture that he's set there, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: that pays dividends and kind of has a ripple effect
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: beyond his immediate reach. It from the outside, it looks
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: like a very youthful staff. Does it feel that way
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: when you guys are getting together? Does it feel like
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: a young staff? And what's the advantage of having a
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: staff of younger guys. I probably wouldn't describe it like that.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I would say we have an energetic staff for sure,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So maybe that's how I would look at it there.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: But in the sense of youth, I think you feel
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the energy, the excitement, the passion for football, for coaching,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and the work that goes into making this thing ultimately
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: what we want it to be. And I think that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: carries over not only into our interactions with each other
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: so far, but I think that will show up in
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: our relationships with the players and the relationships hopefully with
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: everyone else in the building. So I think the energy
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: there is palpable different than maybe the staff that you
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: started on in Carolina in twenty twenty. Every staff is different,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Every staff is unique. Certainly, at the end of the day,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: football is still played by people, It's still coached by people,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: so it's individuals. So it's certainly different in some ways.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: There are probably some ways that it's similar, but ultimately
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: every staff you're on is different. Even year to year,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: you typically have a guy leave. It's just like players
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: on the coaching staff. It's never going to be the
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: same exact staff every year, so there's certainly some differences.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Not to get too far ahead of players, but what
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts on broad Thoms Junior and just the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: prospects of having or nothing like that. Yeah, excitement once again,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: so probably that'll be the same thing I answer for
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: probably ten of these questions is excitement overall, like we
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: talked about with the players, and the opportunity to work
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: with these guys. He's one of the guys where you
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: watch the tape and it's hard to stay seated watching
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: his tape just in terms of the excitement and the
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: tools and the ability that he has and the potential
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: there for you saw the results this year, but the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: potential for growth beyond this year, and the different ways
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you can use him to attack defenses in a multitude
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: of ways. You mentioned being excited about working with Trevor.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: What stands out that you're excited about. There's a lot
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: that stands out. Once again that the physical talent you
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: can see and you guys probably have had more time
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: watching it than even me over the course of the
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: past couple of years. The most exciting thing for me
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: is the guy and the person as I've started to
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: form this relationship, because, like I said, the quarterback position
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: is still played by a person. It's still a human
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: being back there who's got to stand back there and
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: navigate tight pockets and hits and escape and deal with eleven,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you know, ten other guys in the huddle, all eleven
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: on defense and make those decisions in snap judgment. So
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the person that we're getting to deal with and work
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: with on a day to day basis is super exciting
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: for me because listen, if we're up here spending as
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: much time as we do trying to pour ourselves into somebody,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: he's the type of guy that you want to invest
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: time in. We'll talk a lot about the quarterback of
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the passing game, but the running game last year for
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the jaggarsus inconsistent. How important is it to kind of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: develop that trump plane and have that running game on offense. Yeah,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: we'll be multiple and we want to be a complete
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: offense in the sense that we have the ability to
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: attack defenses in a variety of ways, whether that is
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: in the run game or the pass game or screen game,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: whatever that may be. You need to kind of have
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: all the tools in the bag and then find the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: way to to make those players to take those tools
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: and fit them to the players that you have. So
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: it comes down to how can we how can we
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: take what our guys execute, what our guys execute well,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and put those players in the best position for success.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: So the run game is a piece of that without
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: a doubt, because we never want to become one dimensional.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: We always want to be dictating and having the ability
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: to run the ball and run on our terms and
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: be attacking. Like I talked about earlier, kind is predicated
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: on the ability to do that, down in and down out.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Good Thank you guys,