Urban Meyer is already working with the players from the Florida Gators football team in order to help them prepare for the upcoming season. Now he is also working with the team from the Jacksonville Jaguars as he looks to determine who will be cut from the roster. The Jaguars are currently in the process of building their roster for the upcoming season and have decided to put players through a “Winners and Losers” drill to help them decide who to keep.
Everybody wants to be a winner, and also a loser. Friday, at the conclusion of the first day of the Jaguars’ rookie minicamp, players were selected to the losers and winners, to be cut from the team.
Urban Meyer might want to close the curtain on his coaching career with the Florida Gators after the 2017 NFL Draft, but he didn’t close it on the college game. Meyer’s first job since taking over Ohio State’s program was back at Florida, as he was named the Gators’ interim coach for the 2017 season. And while Meyer’s team finished with a losing record, the Gators still managed to draft four players.
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – In a special teams blocking exercise during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice on Wednesday, Tim Tebow lined up against Chris Manhertz, and the two players went at it one-on-one.
Manhertz was declared the winner, and “Winner, Manhertz” was announced over the speakers. The two battled it out three more times, with the ultimate score being 2-2 — with the winner’s name being revealed each time.
While keeping track of the winners and losers is part of coach Urban Meyer’s goal to foster a competitive environment, it will also be a major part of how he and his staff make roster choices.
You’ll have a far higher chance of making the team if you win more of those matches than you lose, and if you do so in any additional competitions the Jaguars will monitor during the remainder of camp.
In one of Urban Meyer’s Winners and Losers exercises on Wednesday, Jaguars tight ends Chris Manhertz and Tim Tebow faced off in a special teams blocking practice. David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire photo
“A large roster will move to a smaller roster, and I don’t believe in subjectivity to be fair to players — we all have so much respect [and] this is how people earn a livelihood,” Meyer added. “I believe in what you’re saying, but what’s your track record?” Everyone has a track record. What exactly is it? You are defined by your track record. It’s not good if you lose a lot of money but have a lot of potential.
“I can give you example after example [of athletes] who are maybe a bit sluggish, but they never lose,” he says.
Meyer began his Winners and Losers program during his second season at Florida in 2006, a season in which the Gators defeated Ohio State to win the BCS national championship. The Gators won it again two years later, and Meyer brought the strategy with him to Ohio State in 2012. The Buckeyes won the national championship two years later. Meyer chose to keep doing that when he moved to the NFL in January, but the stakes of one-on-one contests with the Jaguars may be greater than they were with the Gators and Buckeyes since Meyer didn’t have to cut his roster in half in college.
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He utilized the outcomes in college to select starters and playing time, but now he’ll be using them to decide who gets to remain when he and the staff bring out the sheets of results. If two players are on the verge of winning the same position, the person who has won the most will most likely receive it.
“Well, that’s something I’ve never done before [using it to decide cuts].” “This will be the first time,” Meyer said. “However, I’ve got to make choices about who starts, and it’s not fair to say to players, ‘Well, I’m starting [you] because I like you or because you’re from Ohio.’ It’s as simple as this: Here are the numbers. They say statistics are for losers, and my response is that statistics are generally for losers.
“So you’ve established a track record. What is your track record? How are things going for you? That is a full mindset, in my opinion. Tom Brady has an excellent track record. It’s fantastic that you moved him to the Buccaneers. The New England Patriots are fantastic.”
The Jaguars’ first Victors and Losers day was Wednesday, and the two players who talked to the media after practice — defensive end Dawuane Smoot and receiver Laviska Shenault — claimed they didn’t mind hearing Meyer’s chief of staff, Fernando Lovo, announce the winners after each exercise. It was inspiring, according to Smoot.
Smoot added, “I feel like it certainly just keeps that competitive mentality continuing.” “We’re all wanting to hear our own names on the [public-address system] out there on the big field anyhow, so hearing it out on the practice field is fantastic.”
At the NFL level, it’s definitely uncommon, but it’s basically another method to put the players to the test and see how they react in competitive circumstances.
“There’s just one way to accomplish that, and that’s to scrimmage forever,” Meyer said. “However, you may design situations in which it’s one-on-one and everyone gets a score. What is your track record?”
It’s that time of year when the Jacksonville Jaguars are figuring out their roster for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, that means, as a team, they have to make difficult decisions in order to get the roster down to 75. For fans of the team, they want to get to see every player in action this season, and for the coaches, they need to pick the best 53-man roster that can help them win games. It’s a challenging task that is bound to leave many players disappointed, and a few are likely to be released this week.. Read more about urban meyer coaching staff and let us know what you think.
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