COURTESY OF JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
(On what he’s worked on most with QB Gardner Minshew II and his improvement) “Right now we’re still early on in the process. We have five practices under our belt, or I think this is going to be six, whatever the case may be. A lot of the concepts we’re throwing out him are new, some of them are things he’s done in the past so we’re working right now on just kind of learning the system and applying the necessary fundamentals to it. Whether that’s ball security, whether that’s working on his feet, whether it’s working on his timing, we’re working on a little bit of everything. At the same time, we’re going to be smart. We’re going to stick to what he does best and not ask him to change too much there, but there’s some things we know that can make a difference and help him out.
(On his impression watching tape of Minshew’s 2019 season) “I went back and watched the tape on Gardner [Minshew], but I tried not to make too many [conclusions]. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions or make any knee-jerk reactions just off of watching him on tape. I wanted to get to know him. He’s a guy that’s very dedicated tofootball, not just the football part of things. But if you take a look at how he’s taken care of his body in the offseason; he’s been committed there. He’s done a great job studying the offense, not just when coaches are in the room with him or in the virtual meetings with him, but he’s taken the bull by the horns studying it and then getting the other players kind of going, doing some walk-throughs and things like that, so that’s been great. He’s also a guy to me that’s very gritty. When you look at his past and the things that he’s been through in the game. I like to coach a player like that, someone who’s been through some things. He’s not a guy who’s had smooth sailing, so he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder there and I like that. The last thing is he’s hungry. He wants to get better, not just in the system, but he wants to get better fundamentally. He wants to keep continuing to improve each and every day, just little things. If we can get better at one thing each and every day, then he’s got a chance to stack those successes, move him forward, and improve a big chunk of his game as you take it to the end of the season. We have to keep improving. We can’t just go out in training camp and work on the fundamentals. That has to be something with the way things were structured here in the offseason and in training camp. We have to get better fundamentally throughout the entire year.”
(On former QB Blake Bortles having a lot of balls batted down as a taller player and current QB Gardner Minshew II being able to avoid that issue) “Don’t curse us on that now. That’s something you work on each and every year, so no jinxes. What we’ve talked about in here is I think is playing on time, so being on feet. Making sure your feet time up with the routes that are being run with the pass concepts that are being run obviously helps you there. I think as you move through progressions, whether it be a pure progression, a left to right across the radio dial, or just moving through a true progression with an alert, whatever the case may be to the back, I think you need to do that on time as well. If it takes you three steps to reset your feet and move across the board, you’re usually one step too late. If you can do it in two, you have a chance to beat the defense in transition and you gain one step against the defensive line where they don’t have a chance to get their hands up as quickly. So if you’re precise with your footwork and you’re good with your timing, a guy like Gardner [Minshew] who’s an instinctive player, has a chance, regardless of his height, has a chance to get the ball out and find the throwing lane.”
(On working with Offensive Coordinator Jay Gruden after coaching against him) “I knew Jay [Gruden]. I didn’t know him very well. We had our battles up there in the NFC East, but I’ve always admired his work from afar. The system’s good and just diving into it, it’s really good and I’m excited to be in it. I’m here. I’m grateful for the opportunity. When you sit out a couple of years, you have a chance to sit back and reflect. I’m just trying to be the assistant I wanted my guys to be for me in New York [with the Giants]. I’m trying to do that for Coach Marrone and trying to make Jay’s vision come alive here. [I’m] helping Gardner [Minshew II] and Jay, kind of be the bridge there and help Jay’s vision come alive. So far it’s been outstanding.”
(On coming into a struggling offense and how he views this offense’s scoring capability) “I could probably talk for days on this, Gene. The first thing I guess is when you come into a new year, I think the most important thing you need to do is hit the reset button because nothing carries over year to year, good, bad, or ugly, right? Everything is starting new this year so that’s probably the first thing. I’ll say that I’ve liked what I’ve seen so far. I’m not going to talk about other guys’ positions and things like that, that’s not my job. I think there’s a lot of good, positive attitudes out there on the field. I think there’s a great environment for teaching and for learning and for communication out there. I feel good. I [feel]positive for what I’ve seen. I think it’s the ultimate team game, so I think it’s not just on one guy. It can never be on one guy. We all know how it works for one guy [who] gets a lot of the pat on the backs and a lot of the blame if it doesn’t good well and the pat on the backs if it does go well. But it’s the ultimate team game and the entire roster, they have a lot to do with the success of the quarterback. I do think Gardner [Minshew II] is a guy who has that instincts on where to go with the football. He’s an accurate player and he makes the game fun. It’s definitely not a death march with Gardner and those kinds of things make it fun for me. Like I told you before, he’s a fun player to coach.”
(On his time away from coaching prior to joining the Jaguars staff) “It was great from the fact that I got a chance to learn who my kids are and their personalities. That part of it was great. You know we actually kind of moved down here. We lived a little south of here for those two years so [I] got used to the Florida humidity I guess as best as I could. But I’m a coach and that was my first love. My wife kind of knows [that] she’s fighting an uphill battle right there, but it was great being home. I was at the point where I just wanted to get back in, I wanted to coach. It didn’t matter what I was coaching, and I’m blessed to have the opportunity here. I told guys the other day I would’ve taken a job coaching a monkey how to do hopscotch if I had to; I just wanted to get back in. I love coaching and I just love seeing and being around players, helping them get better, doing everything I can to help those guys get better. I look forward to doing it.”
(On where he was living and if he commutes now) “About 51 minutes. No, we’re up a little bit closer now. [It’s a] good spot, [a] great place to live, [with] great people.”
