JACKSONVILLE – He's big, athletic and disruptive.

It's important that Albert Regis is those things as he moves from college to the professional football, but what's perhaps as significant about the rookie defensive tackle is he's a lot more on and off the field.

He's special beyond statistics – and beyond the film.

"He's about as good as it gets in our program," Texas A&M defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill said.

Regis, who played collegiately at Texas A&M, was selected by the Jaguars in Round 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft – the No. 81 selection overall. Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen on the night of the selection spoke of Regis' "football intelligence, the football IQ, the feel, how to play single blocks, how to play double teams, how he runs to the football, this guy chases things down, screens…"

"That's exactly what we were hunting up," Coen said.

Hemphill, speaking this week as this weekend's Jaguars rookie minicamp approached at the Miller Electric Center, discussed the same attributes – and spoke extensively of Regis as "a great run defender" with "everything you want in terms of stopping the run."

"It's not that he wasn't good on third down or he wasn't a great pass-rush guy," Hemphill said. "He's a really good pass rush guy. We didn't have anybody to like him on first and second down."

Hemphill, too, spoke of Regis' unusual maturity and influence on teammates.

"I would say he was like the father of the team," Hemphill said. "He's the mature guy. He's a grown man. He does everything right. He's always on time, five minutes early to meetings.

"When you have all these young 17- and 18-year old guys, he's the guy that says, 'No, listen. This is how you do it,' or, 'This is how you don't do it.' That's how I always looked at him.

"He's the voice of reason."

Regis (6-feet-1, 295 pounds) played 2021-2025 at Texas A&M. He registered 3.5 career sacks with 11 tackles for loss, including two sacks in 2025 and three tackles for loss. He also had 10 pass breakups, nine over the last two seasons.

"He just has all the physical tools – tough, strong, situationally and formationally aware," Hemphill said. "He can move fast. He can run sideline to sideline. He has good athletic ability. He's strong, but then on the mental side of it, he knows everything that's going. He's just a high IQ kid."

Hemphill said Regis' skill set goes well beyond that of a traditional run-stuffing defensive tackle – and that he can be effective well beyond the interior of the line.

"My man can move," Hemphill said. "He can run. He runs with the linebackers. He doesn't run with the offensive lineman. He's an athlete. You're going to see a lot of stretch. He can keep up with the stretch. He'll make plays outside of the 'A' gap, for sure."

Hemphill, too, said how Regis was used in the Texas A&M defense dictated many of his statistics – and that his potential as a pass rusher may not be seen in his collegiate numbers.

"He can absolutely rush the passer, and he did when we asked him to do," Hemphill said. "We didn't ask him to do it that much because we had [other players who could]. We also couldn't afford not to have him on the field on first and second down. He was that elite.

"He was the guy stopping the run. He held a point. He did a really, really good job on first and second down. We couldn't afford to save him for third down. Would have never got the third down. If we flipped it, if he just played third down, he would have probably had quadruple his sacks."

The Jaguars spent the draft as they have spent much of the last two offseasons – searching for what General Manager James Gladstone calls "intangibly rich" players with a "Jaguars DNA." Hemphill said in that vein Regis is "going to be great."

"He's an absolutely great dude," Hemphill said. "He's one of those guys where you don't hear him a ton, but just the way he conducts himself every day. He conducted himself last year like a pro in a college program. He just does everything right.

"Guys see him and they're like, 'Oh, that's how you do it. Do what Albert's doing, like, do what Reed's doing. Just follow.' I can't say enough about him."