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Jaguars Liam Coen, Trevor Lawrence on footwork emphasis and importance in scheme
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- Jaguars Liam Coen, Trevor Lawrence on footwork emphasis and importance in scheme
Last week, on an appearance on SiriusXM, Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach Liam Coen mentioned an added emphasis this offseason for Trevor Lawrence was on his footwork.
So what does that all entail? Coen was asked about Lawrence and his footwork when meeting with the media on Wednesday.
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"It's not really a change, just tweaking," Coen said . "He's extremely talented and made some unbelievable plays in critical moments and led some huge comebacks. He's played hurt. He's done so many good things, now it's just about, how do we fine-tune it and just tighten it up a little bit to get him in a place where he's comfortable to cut the ball loose, on time and in rhythm, regardless of the circumstances."
Footwork is often the foundation--pun intended--for success when it comes to playing the quarterback position. For one, that is where power is derived, but from a mechanical and technique standpoint, proper footwork that is in balance and moves with the quarterback's eyes allows everything else to fall into place, resulting in accurate, well-placed footballs.
Lawrence, when asked on Wednesday, would mention that the work he is doing on his footwork this offseason, in part, stems from him knowing that there are aspects of his game in that regard that have been "a little bit of a weakness" in his career.
But beyond that, the footwork element is a crucial part of playing quarterback with Coen's offense, as it is tied to the timing of the play, as Lawrence described, with the rhythm of the quarterback's footwork being connected to each progression or route being ran by the pass catchers. So if the footwork element is off, it can throw the timing of the entire play off as well.
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"I think they've done a really good job of this [offensive] system of really thinking through how does it tie into a quarterback's feet," Lawrence said via ESPN . "And that's what we've been talking about and it takes some work and flipping my stance, just some little things like that that are small that many people wouldn't notice, but it is. I have so many banked reps of the other way, I've got to just get all these on my own and work so once camp comes around, I'm ready to go."
Tweaking Lawrence's footwork should help provide more consistency and make operating within the new offense more seamless. However, as Coen mentioned, when it comes to making this new Jaguars ' offense go, it's not only about Lawrence and what he's doing. There has to be balance around him.
This balance can come in the form of having an improved run game to lean to keep the offense out of predictable passing situations. It means the offensive line giving Lawrence time to operate within the timing and rhythm of the play.
Then schematically, the pre-snap motion and multiplicity of Coen's offense can help create mismatches, keep defenses guessing, and put players in space for Lawrence to then take advantage of.
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"That's really what it comes down to," added Coen, "being able to give him some balance around him so that he can feel like not every play is on me. Not every throw that I have to make is going to have to be life or death. We've got to create some balance for him so that he can just go play quieted, free of failure, and just go let it rip."
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Trevor Lawrence, Liam Coen detail footwork emphasis this offseason
