Trevor Lawrence discusses community work, OTAs, and more with Jags Wire
Trevor Lawrence during the Gatorade Beat the Heat campaign, Monday, July 11, 2022 in Jacksonville, Fla. [Photo credit: Gatorade]
Before the Jacksonville Jaguars even drafted him, it was clear that Trevor Lawrence wanted to do his part to help the community. Just last year prior to the NFL Draft, Lawrence and his wife, Marissa, donated $20,000 to various charities around Jacksonville after fans raised more than $30,000 in Lawrence’s name in charitable giving. With his first year as an NFL quarterback in the books, Lawrence has partnered with one of his sponsors, Gatorade, for more community outreach.
With the Jags on their pre-camp break, the Jaguars Wire sat down with Lawrence for a Q&A session to learn more about his partnership with Gatorade, his latest community work with the T.R.U.E. Youth organization of Jacksonville and how he’s feeling heading into the 2022 regular season after an offseason full of changes.
Read on to hear what the second-year quarterback had to say.
Lawrence on the Gatorade Fuel tomorrow program
Trevor Lawrence during the Gatorade Beat the Heat campaign, Monday, July 11, 2022 in Jacksonville, Fla. [Photo credit: Gatorade]
Jaguars Wire: So first off, congratulations on your collaboration with Gatorade for the Fuel Tomorrow Gx bottle Collection. Can you tell us a little about the work you’re doing with Gatorade and the Beat the Heat program?
Trevor Lawrence: Yeah, the Beat the Heat program is just about really trying to encourage and remind everyone to stay hydrated, especially in the summer in Florida. It gets hot here, and obviously, that’s important.
Today, we’re out here as part of the Fuel Tomorrow campaign. Myself, alongside Gatorade, partnered to make a donation to the T.R.U.E. Youth organization here in Jacksonville. It’s a youth sports organization. We were able to make a donation to pay for equipment and participation fees for the next two years. So as many kids as possible can come out and have access to sports, and they don’t have to worry about getting equipment, paying fees, whatever it is to go play. They have a place they can go that’s taken care of.
That collaboration with Gatorade was just to be able to give back to the community here locally in Jacksonville. And it was a lot of fun being out there with the kids today. We got to throw the ball around and have fun.
This was [something] we’ve been planning for a while. We were able to come out today and do this with T.R.U.E. Youth. But moving forward, Gatorade is a company that’s passionate about giving back to the community, similar to me and my wife…To be able to do this right before camp and right before everything gets busy [was a great way] to kind of end the offseason and then just dial in on the season. And Gatorade has been a great partner.
Lawrence on what he was able to achieve in OTAs with Doug Pederson
Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson gives instructions during the Jacksonville Jaguars Organized Team Activity session at TIAA Bank Field Monday, May 23, 2022. [Florida Times-Union]
JW: You guys wrapped up organized team activities last month and you got your first bit of work in with your new coach Doug Pederson, who said he wanted to start “from the ground up” with you on the “Rich Eisen Show.” Can you talk about how that process was with Coach Pederson and whether you feel like you achieved what you needed in that phase of the offseason?
TL: I think with any new staff, when they come in, you have to start from the ground up. That’s what we did. They started with the basics, you know, kind of the general info from Day 1, and then build it every day as we go on. That started the installment of the offense, and we added more and more each day. So we started it slow and were able to build up through the whole offseason program.
When we finished in June, really we were in a good spot to where we had pretty much everything in. We felt like we were moving and we were crisp and we stayed healthy, for the most part, so that was big.
Now going into camp, we’re just trying to pick back up where we left off. Personally, I think I got a lot better this offseason working on my mechanics. Along with that, [we worked on] my footwork and just how I process defenses. I think our new defensive coordinator [Mike Caldwell] has been awesome, he’s shown us a lot of different looks. Our defense looks great.
So everything is coming together, but it takes time. I think we’ve approached it the right way. With Coach Pederson, I think he had a really good plan going into the offseason of what he wanted to accomplish and what he wanted us to do in that short time period. I think he did a great job and I think we’re in a great spot going into camp. So I think we did everything that we wanted to do in OTAs.
Lawrence on the Jags' offensive assistant coaches
Jan 1, 2017; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy looks on during the third quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
JW: We just talked about Coach Pederson a little and have heard about how you two worked together, but now I want to talk about the Jags’ under-the-radar hiring of Quarterbacks Coach Mike McCoy, who worked with Phillip Rivers for many years. Could you talk about your relationship with him, as well as with your passing-game coordinator Jim Bob Cooter?
TL: I think when you look at our staff, we got Coach Peterson, Coach McCoy, Coach Press Taylor [the offensive coordinator], and Coach Cooter. All of those guys offer so much experience. When you look at it, all of them have been coordinators at some point, and a couple of them have been head coaches, and just being able to pull from all those different guys and just soak everything up…I think that’s been huge for me.
I’ve got a good relationship with all of them…All of those guys are really smart. Not only that, just how they work together. You know, usually when you have guys that have been coordinators…it’s kind of hard for people to collaborate and come together and agree on something. But our whole staff has done a great job of collaborating and deciding what our identity is going to be and putting this offense together. I think it’s been awesome to have so many different guys that might see things a little bit differently, but they can come together and really put the best plan in place.
So I think it’s been great. I know I’ve learned a lot just in the offseason and I’m looking forward to having that experience to pull from this whole season.
Lawrence on building chemistry with the receivers group
Jaguars WR (10) Laviska Shenault Jr. pulls in a pass during drills at Tuesday’s minicamp session. The Jacksonville Jaguars held their Tuesday morning session of the team’s mandatory minicamp at the practice fields outside TIAA Bank Field, June 15, 2021. [Florida Times-Union]
JW: We recently saw that Laviska Shenault Jr. worked out with you at the University of North Florida. Could you talk about your workout routine during your pre-camp break in terms of linking up with any of the other receivers? In free-agency, you guys added Christian Kirk and Zay Jones — I’m curious about whether you’ve set up anything with them this offseason?
TL: That’s a good question. Really, in my workout schedule, I took probably about a week off when we finished OTAs and then got right back into working out and throwing shortly after that. So I’ve really been just trying to get my body right for the season.
I was able to put on a little bit of weight, which is something I wanted to do, and get stronger. I feel great throwing the ball. I think this is the best I’ve thrown in a while. So I feel really confident from that standpoint.
I’ve been able to work with Laviska. We’re both pretty much in Jacksonville full-time, so he’s been a guy that’s been around and we’ve got in some work. Jamal Agnew came out for the last workout, too. He’s back healthy, so it’s been nice to see him running around. Then with the other guys, we’re actually set up to all meet for a couple of days this coming week. We’re going to get together and work out and just kind of hang out for a couple of days and try to build that chemistry a little bit before camp starts.
