Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves sat at tables separated by a space fit for, say, two defensive tackles. Harvey and Groves are the Jaguars' defensive ends of the long-term future.
The two bookend pass-rushers met the Jacksonville media in the Jaguars locker room on Sunday afternoon. Harvey, on the right, sat with his parents, who traveled from Washington, D.C. to see their son play every game in his University of Florida career. Groves, on the left, sat with his wife, Treska, an outgoing personality the equal of Groves.
"I'm going to get in from day one … so I can make plays this year," Harvey said.
"It's a job we have to do. It's not unfair," Groves said of the expectation for he and Harvey to be difference-makers in a Jaguars pass-rush most believe was the team's weak link last season.
For Harvey and Groves, college football ended this weekend. The days of SEC glory are over. They have moved on to their life's work and they do so linked by a singular charge: Sack the quarterback.
What do they bring to the Jaguars?
"A lot of pressure; speed, power, athleticism," Harvey said.
"Know your roles. Don't try to make the Pro Bowl in your first year," Groves said.
Harvey, the eighth overall pick of the draft, is expected to fill the role of an every-downs, pass-rushing defensive end. He has been penciled in for the premium right defensive end job.
Groves, because he's smaller and considered to be an end-linebacker hybrid, is expected to fill the role of a pass-rush specialist. He will be used by Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams in creative ways and Groves is just fine with that role.
"I think it's a great situation. They built a great franchise. They were a couple of plays last year from the Super Bowl," Groves said of the Jaguars.
Groves is the more intriguing of the two stories. Harvey is a by-the-numbers athlete who made a decision in high school to pursue football and not basketball, but his path through Florida was according to plan. Groves, on the other hand, has overcome twists and turns in the road.
He is bothered by the rap that he's a bad-character guy. How did he get that rap? Well, he stole a bee-bee gun when he was 10 years old, wrecked a car without having insurance and got involved in a domestic dispute with Treska early in the couple's marriage. Groves, Treska said, is the one who called the police.
"'Q' was just a little overdramatic," she said.
Bad character? Hey, that stuff would make Pacman Jones blush.
The biggest turn in Groves' road occurred at the scouting combine, where a medical examination revealed a heart abnormality that required a procedure that has since been performed and the problem fixed forever.
"People never have the symptoms but one day they wake up dead," Groves said.
Yeah, it was a good thing the heart problem was discovered, but it also likely cost Groves a lot of money because it probably dropped his draft stock out of the first round and into the second.
That's where the Jaguars got him. The Jaguars traded up to a spot just ahead of the Steelers, who may have selected Groves as a perfect fit for the rush-linebacker position in their 3-4 defense.
"I think they were," Groves said when asked if the Steelers were going to pick him. "I think they were looking for an outside linebacker."
Now, the road would seem to be straight. Groves knows what's expected of him and he has the heart to do it.
"I don't feel like I have to beat anybody out; not come in with a cocky attitude," he said.
All he has to do … all he and Harvey have to do is exactly what they were drafted to do: Sack the quarterback.
