Trevor Lawrence reminisces about hometown, Jaguars continue work through OL shuffling

FLOWERY Branch, Ga. — Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew up in Cartersville, Ga., just a little over an hour away from where the Jaguars are practicing with the Atlanta Falcons this week.

It's a first for Lawrence, who has always played away from home since his prep career, a college QB at Clemson before playing in the NFL with Jacksonville.

This week, Lawrence will get an opportunity to see some familiar sights, and even potentially spend time at home just prior to the regular season starting in just a couple of weeks.

When speaking with the media Wednesday shortly after his first taste of joint practices in the NFL, Lawrence was asked about his hometown, and how it feels to be ever-so-close to being home.

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He isn't sure, though, if he will have the opportunity to see his parents, but perhaps they might come up to see him.

"We’re going to try to work something out," Lawrence said. "I’d love to see them, but yeah, it feels good to be back in Georgia. It seems so close. You hop on a plane, it’s like a 45-minute flight up here, so it’s close but just haven’t been back in a while, so it feels good.”

Lawrence's legacy began when he played QB for Cartersville High. During that time he accounted for 13,902 passing yards and 161 touchdowns. It's ultimately what made him a consensus five-star player, rated as the No. 1 prospect nationally and the No. 6 prospect of all-time, ultimately landing with Clemson. It made him into the No. 1-overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, and perhaps more someday.

But, ultimately, Lawrence spoke Wednesday about how much the community made him a better person, his upbringing in Cartersville taught him so much in life and especially in football.

“Just having that small town, a lot of my life was kind of around football. Football is huge in Cartersville, and I just think growing up in that small town, it has a lot of character, that was a big thing," Lawrence said.

"Mostly, I think a lot of who I am, my faith for one, but my family, and that has a lot to do with Cartersville, too, but the way my family raised me, humility was always a really important thing. I think that’s kind of the staple of who I try to be. It’s mostly from my family but also coming from a small town, that’s a big part of that as well.”

Now in Jacksonville, Lawrence continues with that same mindset, though, of course, it's not the same as his hometown with a population of just 21,331. But, still, "it has that feel to it, tight community," Lawrence mentioned. "It’s a little different. Jacksonville is technically a really big city, so there’s a lot of land, but it has a little bit of the same feel. They are different.”

Now in year two of his NFL journey, Lawrence will want to continue his legacy that started when he was just a young kid from a small town in the middle of - frankly - nowhere. That work has begun since the start of the year after the team hired head coach Doug Pederson and now has gone through nearly the end of training camp.

For that, Lawrence was asked about how he felt he's done, and what progress he's made up to this point in camp.

“I really like where I’m at," said Lawrence. As far as offense goes, I feel really comfortable. I’m feeling more and more confident each day and feel really good with where I’m at with all the receivers, tight ends, running backs, protection.

"Our communication, especially me and (rookie center) Luke (Fortner) is getting really, really good, and we’re on the same page more and more, so I have a lot of confidence in that group up front, and I love where we’re at. I’ve said it before, it’s about getting better every week, so we’ll see where we’re at in a few weeks.”

Battle continues for guard, tackle spots

There are a couple of battles taking place for the Jaguars along its offensive line. One at left guard between third-year player Ben Bartch and ninth-year veteran Tyler Shatley, and one at right tackle between second-year player Walker Little and fourth-year tackle Jawaan Taylor. Those battles continued during Day 1 of the team's joint practices with the Falcons.

Meeting with the media shortly before practice Wednesday, Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor was asked about the competition at tackle, noting that the battle sort of has an "ebb and flow" to it where one player will have a great day in certain situations and alternate. Seeing the growth and how both players have pushed each other has been good, Taylor said.

“That’s why we’re not in any rush to make a decision. We’re not in any panic that we don’t have the guy in the building," he added. "It’s really the opportunity of maximizing who’s going to give us the best chance at that given week, who we’re going against this opponent, all that, so credit to those guys for the way they’ve prepared and pushed each other and competed with one another.”

Both Taylor and Little have continued to alternate in team drills, including during Wednesday's practice. Both have alternated over the past two preseason games with Taylor starting last week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Whoever doesn't win the battle could ultimately play as the team's swing tackle. Still, that is a conversation for later down the road, Taylor said, noting that they don't want to give somebody a leg up or make someone a backup simply because they're potentially a better backup on the other side.

That could be the case with a player like Little, who has played the left tackle position his entire life, whereas Taylor hasn't had much work there.

“We’ll play the guy who gives us the best opportunity at that position. Now, if something went on there, say somebody won the job and another guy was a better backup somewhere else, maybe there’s a rotation you have to do later on down the road if something happens, that would be there, but for the most part, we want to play the best five given that week."

At left guard, the Jaguars have played it a bit slow. The team initially utilized Shatley at the position throughout camp next to rookie center Luke Fortner. Last week, the team changed their tune, giving Bartch an opportunity to play with the first-team offense, including during the team's matchup against the Steelers last week.

Shatley, in the interim, has taken his place as the team's backup center position, giving the team an opportunity to see how he fares there.

"Tyler Shatley has got a great opportunity. Ben (OL Ben Bartch) had played well. He deserved the opportunities with the ones to continue his evaluation process, then another part of that was getting Shatley a lot of center work, and that’s what we were able to do last week," Taylor said.

"By virtue of being able to evaluate him, it gave Ben an opportunity to play with the ones, because there are a lot of times guys play well with the unit they’re in. Competition ups as you move with the ones, you want to see if that continues. So far, he’s done a great job."

The competition will continue as the Jaguars get set to play the Falcons on Saturday at 3 p.m. Though, it remains to be seen if a starter will be named prior to the game, and if so, if any of the starters will play during the game itself.

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @Demetrius82.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence back home to practice with Falcons