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Jaguars OG Wyatt Milum could throw heat. Now he's ready to be one of Trevor Lawrence's bodyguards
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- Jaguars OG Wyatt Milum could throw heat. Now he's ready to be one of Trevor Lawrence's bodyguards
Jacksonville Jaguars rookie offensive guard Wyatt Milum was all set to play baseball when he was a sophomore at Spring Valley High School in Kenova, W.Va.
He was a left-handed pitcher with a live fastball, clocked once at 90 mph in a high school game.
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"I used to bring some heat back in the day," Milum said after the Jaguars ' second minicamp practice on June 11 at the Miller Electric Center. "Shockingly, I played a little bit of outfield. "But mostly pitcher and first base."
Yes, the sight of a 6-foot-6, 317-pounder patrolling the outfield might be quite the sight.
But he was a baseball player first, for Spring Valley and during busy travel ball schedules in the summer. Before he became a two-way tackle in high school, he was on track to play college baseball and verbally committed to Marshall, near his hometown, after being offered a scholarship the summer between his eighth-grade and ninth-grade years.
And until he was a junior at Spring Valley, Milum intended to honor that commitment for the Thundering Herd. But he also played football, kept growing and grew to love it more.
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"Baseball is something I always enjoyed," he said. "But through high school, more and more, I loved football."
And if the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp ever get Milum to throw out the first pitch, you can bet he'll be doing it from the mound.
Wyatt Milum found his niche in football
It appears Milum made the right career choice. He became one of the most highly recruited offensive linemen in the nation as a senior (Sports Illustrated rated him as the No. 1 tackle in the nation), and stayed within his home state to play for West Virginia.
Milum started his last 42 games in a row for the Mountaineers at left tackle, did not allow a sack during his last two seasons and racked up one award after another: consensus All-American, Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, Outland Trophy semifinalist, All-Big 12 and All-Big 12 Academic team.
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The knock on Milum of having shorter arms and not as much quickness as NFL teams might want from an offensive tackle didn't bode well for being a first-round pick and when he fell to the third round, the Jaguars traded up to grab him and made it clear from the start he'd be playing guard.
He said the conversion is going well.
Jacksonville Jaguars guard Wyatt Milum (64) drills with guard Sal Wormley (61) during a rookie minicamp at Miller Electric Center Saturday, May 10, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla.
"It was a little much at the beginning," he said of rookie minicamp and OTAs. "But I feel like the way the coaches have explained it and done it over a period of time since I've been drafted ... they made it a smooth process. I feel like everything's been good."
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Milum never questioned the move to guard, since it was the fastest track for playing time.
"Wherever they want to put me, I'm willing, as long as it gets me on the field," he said. "If I'm succeeding, that's all that matters to me. Anywhere is good with me."
Wyatt Milum's promise
Milum attracted some attention after being drafted when he vowed that Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence wouldn't be touched.
"I'm going to make that promise to them [Jags fans] and I'm going to make that promise to Trevor," he said.
That's a bold statement and perhaps unrealistic. But Milum has a history of helping keep his quarterbacks upright. He never yielded a sack in high school and gave up only two over his final 36 games with the Mountaineers.
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He's not walking it back either.
"That's our motto ... we don't want anyone touching the quarterback," he said. "I feel like that's our identity as our offensive line at this point."
Wyatt Milum prides himself on toughness
Although evaluating offensive and defensive linemen is difficult until the team straps on the pads in training camp, Jaguars coach Liam Coen likes what he sees out of Milum.
"He's a big dude ... the way the guy plays, the toughness," Coen said. "He's rooted in that. That's kind of what he prides himself on being, and that's what he is kind of known for around that building is being a guy that finishes, that plays the game the right way, that approaches it the right way."
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Milum said those roots were planted in the small town of Kenova and got deeper at West Virginia, where toughness is part of the culture.
"It's the way I grew up," he said. "It's the way I was raised to play the game. When you step on the field there's only one way to play and that's to play through the whistle. It's ingrained in me, especially being on the offensive line. You're supposed to set the tone of the whole offense."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars rookie guard Wyatt Milum isn't backing down on draft-day promise
