Jags HC Liam Coen ADDRESSES DUVAL MOMENT 😳 + Travis Hunter PLAYING BOTH SIDES | The Pat McAfee Show

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen joins The Pat McAfee Show to set the record straight on his “Duval” mishap, drafting Travis Hunter and more.

0:00 Addressing the moment
2:25 New culture in Jacksonville
3:32 Acquiring the No. 2 pick for Travis Hunter
6:31 How is Hunter practicing?
9:17 Sean McVay sticks up for his guys
11:07 Leaning on Tampa Bay Buccaneers experience
13:20 Implementing new culture
16:01 Working with Trevor Lawrence
18:30 Golf trip
19:55 Training camp shenanigans

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV

#ESPN

there was a team during the draft that made a massive move new GM new head coach new era we’re going to make a statement with a trade that we’re going to make and a player that we’re going to draft with that they go up to number two they take Travis Hunter and now the expectations are an exciting brand of football it’s not just Stoner is the general manager no new face down in Duvall run it Foxy duval ladies and gentlemen Liam Cohen
yeah Leo liam hey what’s up guy
we had to get it there had to get it there immediately okay have to address it let’s talk about it nick Serriani at his opening press conference he said “Less thinky more athlete take over we’re planting seeds in manure.” Dan Campbell in his opening press conference said “We’re going to beat team you knock us down we’re climb we’re no off kneecap man.” And he got mocked and ridiculed you have the Duvall situation that we all talk about whenever you exit that press conference does somebody tell you like “Hey that’s you just kind of remix that thing yourself here or how does that kind of all go from your standpoint as a first time head coach first opening press conference and trying to make a statement and set precedent for what you’re going to be down there?”
Well I appreciate you guys having me on man uh thank you for joining you know hey you you walk out of there and you know ultimately every quarterback former quarterback has a cadence and it’s just me learning a new cadence right you know you got to get used to it hey Blue 80 Blue 80s you know you got to get a new cadence and uh hey the good things Ben has been able to connect with the fans cuz every opportunity they get to correct me has been uh pretty consistent so great opportunity to connect with the fans of Duvall County
i’ll tell you what if you win uh yours is going to be the new one that is that is how it kind of goes let’s talk about winning down there though obviously everybody knows the story of the Jacksonville Jaguars jacksonville Jaguars have been very good against the Indianapolis Colts at home for the past recent history but not really good against everybody else seemingly have the parts but now can they piece it all together what were your thoughts when you got the job take the job and how do you feel about the team where you are right now yeah I think when when you look at the the roster entirely and you you see you have a quarterback that that’s shown the ability to play at a high level you’ve got multiple defensive players on the edge specifically on the front that can disrupt the game and impact the game in a positive way and then also you’ve got a star in Brian Thomas Jr at the receiver position that ultimately can win at all three levels of the defense so you see some pieces right and then there’s obviously parts that we need to help with right can we continue to help with the run game can we continue to get turnovers on the defensive side of the ball to ultimately help the quarterback right this is all about getting Trevor Lawrence to play at his highest potential and uh we do have some pieces in place we’ve continued to do so throughout the draft and pro- free agency and ultimately we’ll see what happens throughout training camp and into the fall
you’ve had a lot of success calling plays we assume that will continue and uh Stoner general manager down there the I call it a promo whenever you uh speak in a uh in an extended period of time and you have a directive or a mission the promo he cut about why you guys drafted Travis Hunter as a statement and what football can be and you know breaking down boundaries and what the future and everything like that was unbelievable when did you guys decide that we were going to make a play for Travis Hunter is a mustave for this Jacksonville Jaguars team and when did you decide you were on board with the Travis Hunter experience as the head coach of the football team
i think about a month uh prior to the draft we started having some some conversations right james came in uh to our office was Tony and I sitting in here and he said “Uh hey what would you guys think if we could go and make this thing happen?” And um when you go through the evaluation process of Travis on both sides of the ball and you’d say “Yeah I would take him uh as a DB and I would take him as a receiver right?” And so those conversations started to become a little bit more realistic about a month prior and then okay you have to go through all the different scenarios right what happens when we give up this pick what do we end up having to do to pivot um and ultimately it just came down to look we want to get a player that wants to come in here and and obviously be the best player that he can be he feels as though he can do some phenomenal things in this league on both sides of the ball which we appreciate and we want to be able to give him that platform while also knowing that when when your best players are some of your hardest workers and the guys that truly love the game that love every aspect of it that eat breathe and sleep this thing you know that’s who he is and and we do have a lot of those guys in this building but continuing to add to that is what was really important and those are the things that he brings
a month before the draft being like “So this guy’s our number one DB and our number one wide receiver.”
Uh so this is not you know it kind of popped up on draft night i don’t think anybody was predicting that i think you guys kept that very tight right i mean that had to be on purpose yeah it was it it was pretty consistent throughout that we wanted to keep it quiet obviously you didn’t know specifically with the first pick of the overall draft that may have some implications and ultimately just I think you know both organizations did a great job of keeping it professional uh doing it the right way you know obviously we would love to have you know kept a little bit more of our building inclusive on some of the decisions but ultimately you have to make those decisions that are best and uh it all worked out for the best i think the Arizona Cardinals traded for like Hollywood Brown or something on draft night a few years ago and nobody knew about it he was even on a plane over there so like the Jacksonville Jaguars trade it not coming out I think is good news for your culture personally i I think that is good news for the state of your entire program go ahead AJ
coach yeah as far as Travis Hunter like heading into training camp here in five six weeks whatever it might be do you guys have a plan in place that you’re going to build put together for what you’re going to put like on this guy’s plate i mean it’s a great problem to have like hey where do we get him reps which side of the ball how much do we put on him as far as the playbook and everything like is there a a a plan that you guys sit down with Travis and think about what might his uh what his training camp could look like
absolutely that was exactly what we did for the offseason program as well where you know we kind of built a plan and then sat him down and really talked through it and you know how does he learn what is the best ways that he learns we we did gain some of that information throughout the draft process but when you actually sit down with him and and kind of get a feeling well he likes to walk through more than sit in a meeting room setting so let’s do more walkthroughs and we really kind of uh okay every day he was on offense he also met with the defensive staff in the afternoons and vice versa and so typically throughout this off season he was on one side of ball in practice and he didn’t flip-flop today he did and he played both sides of the ball in practice today and that will have to continue on throughout training camp where he’s playing on both sides of the ball and getting that mental and physical endurance throughout the uh training camp because that’s what he’s going to have to do in games so ultimately we’re building a foundation right now of both sides of the football but he’s going to have to do both in practice because that’s what the game’s going to be like and we’ll sit down and kind of re-evaluate what we did this spring to see what’s the best moving forward
hey no pressure you got a once in a-lifetime uh player who wants to play on both sides so head coach let’s make sure we’re monitoring reps let’s make sure he stays healthy let’s make sure he’s prepared for two impossible jobs corner maybe the hardest job in football and then wide receiver yeah everybody’s got to be on the same page hey make sure you do it dude good luck make sure you do it you said he played uh uh on both sides uh today at practice for the first time he did how’d it go how do we feel
good good he uh you know it’s one of those things where he’s he’s learning continuing continuously as we do the as we go through the install right and today we tried to keep it really tight with the install let these guys go on the last day of uh mini camp feeling confident feeling fresh and uh he was in the right spot alignment assignment and not a ton of balls came his way when when he ended up playing on defense and you know that happens as you’re playing the quarterback position but uh he’s he’s been great the coaching staff as you mentioned Pat like this is an organizational deal right from the training staff to the equipment staff to the strength and conditioning to our sports science everybody has to be on board and understand what his process is and what’s the best process to get him to play at the highest level on Sundays and that’s what it’s been it’s been a group effort so far
do you like the young vibe that you have obviously we thought Stoner was a 12-year-old
his his face popped up on the screen and we said “What?” We this guy general manager and then McVey came on obviously ties uh you all together there and McVey goes don’t sleep on my boy Gladstone do not sleep on my boy Gladstone feels like there was a mission from the Khan family saying let’s get our young group in here and let’s grow with them is that kind of the mindset that you’re seeing as well
a little bit i mean I think ultimately yeah we did have a little continuity being in LA for a few years and um you know the vision is very similar and so um James definitely has a little killer in him i mean he he’s a coach’s son and so at the end of the day he’s all about ball the things that you know you guys would really uh appreciate and respect about the evaluation process with with uh the draft like those are the exact things that he really benefits from in terms of what he values in players being football smart savvy not just all height weight speed understanding the game are they do they love it do they live it those are the things that he really values in these players and those are the same things us as coaches just naturally want in our players so it’s been great so far he definitely has that young look but man he’s wise beyond his ears
yeah coach you guys are supposed to suck down here i don’t like I don’t like hearing what you’re saying okay i I don’t like hearing what you’re saying we’re looking for dogs we like people that love football we’re trying to do things the right way we don’t need that okay in Jacksonville at all
we don’t need that at all especially as an Indianapolis Colts guy we do not need that at all and it feels like every answer you’re giving is one that makes it a little bit bigger of a nightmare that down there in Duvall oh yeah you got it there might be a real monster being built go ahead Joan
coach uh does it give you confidence um coming from Tampa that it feels like the talent on the Jaguars is similar you’re going to have two incredibly talented wide receivers multiple backs that kind of remind me of the of the Bucks backs down there former number one overall quarterbacks on both of those teams does it give you confidence or some sort of like reassurance that like hey as long as we kind of do what we did there we’re going to have success down here as well on offense yeah that’s a great question i mean every team’s different right every season’s its new entity every offense is different but there are pieces of things that we could learn from last year that can hopefully help us as we go right so we had those pieces in place we had very good talent in Tampa and Baker was absolute stud to work with and we kind of had a mentality we were going to be one version of ourselves in the run game early on in Tampa we were trying to run zone and a little duo and then that wasn’t working four games in and so ultimately we had to pivot and I think that was the learning moment was man these guys ultimately it’s all about what they can do like what are they best at let’s continue to try to do those at a high level yeah we got to improve the things we need to improve but we ended up pivoting to being a little bit more of a gap scheme team in the run game and that was something that we learned uh that you can take in every team that we got to play to your players their strengths and ultimately do what they do best so you can get the best version of them on Sundays x’s and O’s play calling obviously one thing head coach there’s a lot more to it i assume you knew that coming into the job and are experiencing that right now connor has a question for you welcome back Ty Schmidt
thank you
uh co coach Cohen I don’t know if you know this this man was missing for 22 minutes uh because he had you know potentially a couple jack and diets last night and then a grilled chicken sandwich this morning
i tell you what I think I got E coli from the lettuce i think Okay Connor has a question for you coach sorry he’s battling this one hey Grit hey we’re trying Hey we’re trying to build up this you know grit jam and he’s battling and we appreciate that go ahead Connor
yeah coach uh coming from Tampa obviously you need to kind of establish your own culture i’m sure you picked up things there and with and with the Rams and you know things like that from all the places you’ve been go Minutemen by the way shout out UMass uh what what is your culture would you say how do you kind of establish that culture we kind of see behind you the you know FAST acronym there but what exactly would you say is your culture and how are you going to get that implemented with all the players on the team that have been there for a while who have gone through a couple different cultures
yeah that’s a great one we we want mentally and physically tough players that love to compete and that’s really what it comes down to right we we definitely have a style of play in which you see behind me and and that’s something that ended up taking along the way from things that you pick up from Shawn and from Todd BS and and as much as you can learn from these guys that have led uh winning organizations winning teams and so we want to be as mentally and physically tough to have the mentality that we’ll play anybody anywhere and we got to go in a dog fight they don’t want to line up and play us because we’re going to be physical and those are the things that we want to try to instill uh to compete and do right longer those are the things that we’re really trying to emphasize and it’s a lot man you’re trying to install new systems on two sides of the football we kept continuity which was really important within the special teams group having Heath Farwell and our specialist stay consistent who’s a total stud so um you know we’re we’re instilling culture we’re going through those processes our style of play how we want to operate and also doing you know installing new offense and defense so these guys have done a great job ultimately we want them to come to work every day and enjoy it truly come to work pull in this uh building every day which is amazing and say “Man I I can’t wait to get to work i can’t wait to work with these guys.” And ultimately in the fourth quarter when when you got Hey everybody’s got a why everybody plays for a reason and ultimately you know at some point I want those guys out there to say you know what I want to go play my tail off for those guys those coaches as well and those are the type of relationships we’re trying to create
i love that and getting guys that love ball i think that is so important i I genuinely I I don’t know how you find who loves ball travis Hunter everybody says this guy loves ball and also he’s incredibly talented if you get a building filled with players that love ball all the extra they’ll do cuz they want to do it it’s like they they enjoy doing it if you get somebody that’s just viewing it as work then you got a problem i think the culture is much easier to instill whenever you have guys that love ball feels like Stoner’s got a good eye feels like Stoner’s got a good eye for that which once again I hate I cannot say this i cannot say this and you talk about your beautiful facility oh I’ve heard Yeah I’ve heard a con family who’s going to build up an entire city within Jacksonville to make this even I hate that i want to let you know I do not like that but I love it for you and I love it for the Jaguars faithful go ahead AJ
coach yeah I assume a big reason why you wanted that gig is because you have Trevor Lawrence already there as the solidified quarterback i guess in your short time working with him this spring and summer I guess what do what do you like about this guy and what do you see him doing this year
man this guy has leaned into everything that we’ve tried to coach since getting here from the moment that we arrived it was man how much time can I put into this thing uh all throughout all the phases phase one phase two phase three you know calling the plays multiple play calls checks protections this guy’s been up here in the building as much as possible uh taking the work home with him even though he’s got a new baby at home and he’s working his tail off and then you see him out here and it’s he’s a natural thrower of the football i mean he can put the ball in places where he wants it to be and now it’s just about hey how can we play at a consistently high level game in and game out and also help him right we’ve got to improve the run game to be able to create a little bit more balance so that every throw isn’t the biggest throw of the game and then be able to turn the ball over on the defensive side of the ball to help him as well but man been really impressed with his work ethic his recall his attention to detail and uh he’s doing everything we’ve asked so far and and and see nothing but good things for him moving forward
he has seemingly handled himself like a professional since high school i mean I remember the first game he went in for Clemson they were talking about him being the next one that’s a lot of pressure whenever you’re a teenager and they’re saying you’re the next one you’re the next one you’re the next one he has handled it we’re getting to the point now you know where there’s another word that some people are throwing out do you feel the pressure of that getting the most out of Trevor Lawrence
yeah I think it’s it’s natural right you feel the pressure to you always as a coach want to try to get the most out of your players and when you don’t you feel like you fail right like that’s that is our job our job is to put these guys in the best position to be successful and you’re constantly evaluating that process to get you there and to get these guys playing at the highest potential so uh is it pressure no i think it’s exciting i think it’s a great opportunity uh for him to show who he really wants to be right like he he has it he has shown it i mean he led one of the best you know comebacks in in playoff history i mean the guy’s got grit he’s played through a ton of injuries throughout his career he’s mentally and physically tough he has these skill sets so it’s ultimately just about man just go let it rip go play free of failure go play with a supporting cast that we can continue to improve and just go cut it loose
what do you like to do as a hobby you a golfer most quarterbacks are golfer you’re a golfer you’re good
yeah I mean I’m going to Scotland actually on Monday um my dad and my father-in-law are going on a trip we got St andrews Turnberry Trun Carni and King Bar
okay so you’re you’re you’re a stick you’re you’re what’s your handicap
i’m a nine
okay so we’re coming are we coming out of the what are we are we coming out of the pocket we short swing
i’m my putting games a t is tough that’s that’s where I I tend to fall apart on the green a little bit typically you have to practice that and uh don’t have a ton of time to do it and and don’t enjoy just sitting there practicing putting but uh it’ll be fun man this is this is a great this has like been our dream with me and my dad and my father-in-law his family is actually Muny Indiana so he’s a huge fan bro huge fan
okay well tell the father-in-law uh shout out and uh I hope he beats you Andrew dad out there over there in Scotland
goers
okay and goers shout out if he’s my Indiana who do you think wins the US Open who do you think wins the US Open
man I got to go dark horse here harris English
okay okay i’m right there i’ve never heard of this guy so very dark horse
harris English george A he’s Georgia he’s been down here got to know him a little bit man came to the draft and uh he he’s just been a great friend so far just getting to know him a little bit i don’t know a ton of the pros out there on the PGA Tour but he’s been a good one for me
you still spin it a little bit
little little from 15 and in i’d say there’s probably a consistent accuracy once you get past that I probably lose a little velocity uh we did a goalpost uh competition today i did not win
uh who won logan Cook the new rich punter you guys got down there dude he could if he was in it he would probably been right in the competition for what a stud really really pumped to get him in the boat uh extended him and and just exactly what we wanted Jacksonville Jaguar to be i think Nick Mullins might have ended up winning it today though
well Mullins he’s a dog here’s what Mullins does uh I appreciate the fact that your first press conference went the way it did and obviously you had sick loafers on if I do recall you had some awesome loafers on yeah yeah yeah you did you look sweet i mean everything about it was you know uh attention stealing like damn look at how this guy Damn look how young this guy is he only has 5 year coaching experience he just remixed Duvall in this first thing it’s like it was all a lot of noise a lot of noise and now that you’ve kind of settled in and now it’s time to build the program i appreciate that you guys said “We need to pay the punter immediately.” That’s good football you guys know ball down there you to respect that
yeah massive respect all right good luck in Scotland uh good luck with your first year as a head coach for the Jacksonville Jack not too much luck you know uh but you understand what I’m saying and thank you for joining us coach
thanks guys i appreciate you having me on
all right tell everybody we said what’s up down there including Stoner we love Stoner
huge fan
that whole
Keep it going man keep it going
that speech he gave about drafting Travis Hunter and it being a statement in like what football can be like I listen to it i’m like “Hey this high school kid this guy he’s a dog through and through good luck down there.”
Match him spinning the ball in practice
yeah yeah you’re right i forgot about Yeah
he’s spinning the ball jackson’s got a hold dude he can throw it he can catch it one hand he went out I think beat one-on-one in hoops yesterday i mean yeah yeah he’s like that like that ladies and gentlemen head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars do good but not too good liam Co hey go