Pederson’s hire a ‘full circle’ moment for Lawrence

On Saturday, Doug Pederson said that having Trevor Lawrence at quarterback played a major role in his decision to take the job as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Lawrence commented Saturday on Jacksonville’s hire of Pederson, and the …

On Saturday, Doug Pederson said that having Trevor Lawrence at quarterback played a major role in his decision to take the job as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Lawrence commented Saturday on Jacksonville’s hire of Pederson, and the former Clemson star quarterback expressed the team’s optimism about its new leader, as well as the sense of relief within the organization now that Pederson is on board following plenty of drama with Urban Meyer during the season and the near-50-day search for his replacement after Meyer was fired on Dec. 16.

“We’re really excited,” Lawrence said in an interview with Jaguars team reporter Ashlyn Sullivan. “Obviously, I talked to him briefly on the phone, I guess that was Thursday night. And then today, first time meeting him in person, just seems like a really great guy. Obviously, he’s had a lot of success. His resume kind of speaks for itself. He’s an offensive guy. He played quarterback in the NFL. All those things make me really excited and something that I’m just excited to get to work with him and see what he brings to the table. So, I think everybody’s excited. Everybody’s really relieved we got our guy, and to be able to move forward and just go to work now is a good feeling.”

Lawrence discussed the phone call he had with Pederson late Thursday night when the news broke that Pederson would be the Jaguars’ new coach.

Lawrence is happy to have a former NFL quarterback as his head coach, and the 2021 No. 1 overall draft pick envisions Pederson as a coach that can relate to him and help him flourish moving forward.

“First, just kind of getting to know each other a little bit,” Lawrence said of his initial conversation with Pederson over the phone. “We hadn’t really talked before. So, getting to know each other, that was the first part of the phone call. Then after that, just talking a little bit of ball, kind of his philosophy, things that he likes to do.

“Obviously, like I said, he played the quarterback position, so he sees it through my lens more so than a lot of coaches that haven’t played the position. So, that was really cool to talk to him and hear his take on a lot of things and just vaguely his plan – obviously, you can’t get into all the details. But just really excited. He seems super prepared, like he’s got a great plan, and I think it’s going to go over really well with the whole team.”

Lawrence and Pederson actually crossed paths to a certain extent when Lawrence was at Clemson and Pederson attended one of Clemson’s coaching clinics in 2018, when he was in his tenure as the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach.

Dabo Swinney talked with Pederson about Lawrence back then. Pederson probably never expected that he would be coaching Lawrence himself one day.

But, as Lawrence said, things have come “full circle.”

“He’s really close to a lot of the people at Clemson,” Lawrence said of Pederson. “Actually, the first time I saw him in person – we didn’t really meet – but I was a freshman, just got to Clemson in spring practice, and that was after they won the Super Bowl in Philadelphia. So, he was there. Coach Swinney had invited him to speak at one of their clinics and he came to practice and talked to the team. So, that was then, and apparently – he told me on the phone – Coach Swinney told him then, ‘Hey, watch out for this guy, he’s going to be a good one one day.’ And then now, he’s the head coach here and we’re on the same team. So, it’s cool how everything comes full circle. It’s a small world, and just really excited to work with him.”

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