Gene Frenette: Jaguars, Baalke loading up on SEC talent to try and get their groove back

There was no predisposition on the part of Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke to enter the NFL Draft with a Southeastern Conference bias.

But looking at the final numbers on the Jaguars’ scorecard, which featured a historic six SEC selections among nine picks, it’s evident the ghost of Gene Smith is long gone.

Jaguars fans remember Smith, the team’s former GM from 2009-12, with staggering contempt. That’s because of his proclivity to keep drafting players either from smaller schools or non-Division I (16 out of 26) colleges with almost no success, albeit nose tackle Terrance Knighton (Temple), receiver Cecil Shorts (Mount Union) and running back Rashad Jennings (Liberty) were respectable.

Gene's take: Jaguars' first-round draft pick Brian Thomas Jr. must have immediate impact

Smith didn’t care that the SEC had established itself as the nation’s dominant football league well before he was put in charge of running the Jaguars’ draft. He couldn’t bring himself to grab any of that talent.

This is not a misprint: the SEC went 0-for-26 on Smith selections. Despite the SEC now being on an 18-year streak of having the most players drafted over any league by a significant margin, Smith wanted nothing to do with siphoning from the nation’s biggest supplier of NFL players.

Yes, the likes of Lehigh, Central Arkansas, Southern Illinois, James Madison, William & Mary, Nebraska-Omaha, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, Louisiana Tech and Ashland sent more draft picks to Jacksonville than any SEC school on Smith’s watch.

Thankfully, as shaky as Baalke’s approval ratings have been with the Jacksonville fan base, he and his scouting department don’t ignore a football gold mine.

When the draft concluded Saturday, the Jaguars became only the sixth team in NFL history to pluck a minimum six SEC players in one draft, per Elias. They tied the 2022 Houston Texans by doing it with the least number of draft picks. Only the 1974 New York Jets took seven SEC players, but they had 20 selections.

Getting on SEC train

Once the Jaguars took receiver Brian Thomas Jr. with the No. 17 overall pick, the SEC momentum barely went on pause.

Two of his Tigers teammates, defensive tackle Maason Smith (Round 2, No. 48) and defensive tackle Jordan Jefferson (Round 4, No. 114) later joined him. Along with Missouri offensive lineman Javon Foster (Round 4, No. 116), Ole Miss cornerback Deantre Prince (Round 5, No. 153) and Arkansas kicker Cam Little (Round 6, No. 212), it added to a Jaguars’ roster that has become far more SEC-heavy than any time in history.

With these draft additions, the Jaguars currently have 26 SEC players on a roster of 79 for 32.9 percent. On the 2012 team (Smith’s last year as GM), the Jaguars went to training camp with three SEC players on a 90-man roster for 3.3 percent.

Now, an SEC-loaded roster is no guarantee of success, especially considering less than half of the Jaguars’ SEC picks from the top three rounds in the last 11 years have failed to live up to their draft slot.

Still, most GMs would likely prefer taking their chances with SEC players than from anywhere else, even if there’s no designed plan to stock a roster with them.

Baalke acknowledged he didn’t go into this draft intending to load up on LSU players or any of its conference brethren. The draft board just fell that way.

“Yeah, there’s nothing more to it than that,” said Baalke. “I mean, obviously the SEC has a lot of good football players, so the odds are greater that they’re going to be up on the board, but there is no intent there [to draft them] at all. We just were looking for good football players that fit our culture.”

Intentional or not, it’s certainly looking like the Jaguars are following an NFL pattern. The SEC had 59 players selected in this year’s draft, identical to its average over the last decade, which is 16 more than the second-place Big Ten average over the same span.

Looks like B-grade draft

So, did the Jaguars have a knockout draft just because they stocked up on SEC talent?

In some spots, that certainly appears to be the case, particularly with Thomas at the top. FSU cornerback Jarrian Jones will likely start in the slot, if for no other reason than the lack of viable options at that position.

On paper, it looks more like a solid draft — meriting an overall B grade — than one Jaguars fans should be doing cartwheels over, albeit the Thomas pick has a future star potential feel about it.

Just remember, last year’s draft looked awfully promising after the selections were made. Then they lost much luster when tight end Brenton Strange (2nd round), running back Tank Bigsby (3rd round), defensive lineman Tyler Lacy (4th round) and outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah (5th round) didn’t have as much impact as many hoped.

If the Jaguars can get two reliable starters, two or three rotational players and maybe a No. 1 kicker out of this group, then that’ll be a cause for celebration.

For now, they better hope that tapping into the SEC pipeline in the draft will produce as nicely as it did with pass-rushers Josh Allen (Kentucky) and Travon Walker (Georgia).

After his selection, Prince didn’t change his answer from before the draft when asked who he thought was the toughest receiver for him to cover.

“We got him. Brian Thomas Jr.,” said Prince.

Indeed, the SEC brotherhood has each other's back. Since 2016, an SEC slogan has been a marketing boon with these simple words: “The SEC, it just means more.”

Looking at the Jaguars’ expanding SEC roster, they’ll soon find out if tapping into college football’s gold mine translates into more wins.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: SEC loading: Jaguars counting on success by drafting from best talent source