JACKSONVILLE – Let's get to it …
Ed from Jax by Lionel Playworld
What are the chances that Travis Hunter plays mostly defense in Week One? Could the Jags be trying to disinform the rest of the league about our plans with Hunter?
We're probably overthinking this one a bit, but what is the "Dead Zone" if not a time for overthinking? The Jaguars' offseason program is over – and with 2025 Training Camp still weeks away, we naturally conjure myriad scenarios that might happen. It's therefore unsurprising we would conspiracy think our way into wondering if the Jaguars are up to some sort of major sleight-of-hand chicanery with rookie wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter. But no … there is no a super-secret disinformation campaign happening with the No. 2 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. Here's how we know this: While a few 2025 organized team activities practices were closed to the media, seven of 13 "full" competitive practices in which Hunter has participated have been open. All '25 Training Camp practices will be open to the media with many of those practices open to the public. There are a few weeks of practice after training camp in which the Jaguars would be able to practice Hunter on one side of the ball or other and not inform the outside world, but the competitive benefit of this would be minimal. Hunter will play wide receiver and cornerback in the preseason. He will play both positions in the regular season. This is no mystery. No one's hiding it, nor is there a reason to hide it. I'm not saying the Jaguars will publicly detail a projected snap breakdown for Hunter as the regular season approaches. But neither will there be a disinformation campaign. There's no motivation for it, and the Jaguars – and Hunter – will be far better served spending that time preparing for the regular season.
Tom from The Mean Streets of Nocatee
Happy Dead Zone. … 1 - Gimme Three Steps, 2 - Curtis Lowe, 3 - Sweet Home Alabama, 4 - All I Can Do Is Write About It, 5 - Am I Losing, Honorable mention Crossroads from One More From The Road (Live).
Damned good list. Don't Ask Me No Questions, Saturday Night Special and What's Your Name could be in the Top 10, too.
Scott from Aruba
Can we get an update on JR Ozone?
Junior O-Zone gets married Friday. It is the happiest occasion imaginable. I suspect I will smile. At least sometimes.
Mike from Eagan, MN
So, since it's the Dead Zone, and you had the great article about "Mean" Gene Frenette (I don't know what the heck a podcast is, but maybe that was good too ... who knows ... you darn millennial), it made me wonder. Can you bestow a title on Gene such as "Superior Writer Emeritus" or "O-Zone Emeritus" when you refer to him now? Wouldn't that give him some high standing in the organization where he can come and sit at your desk in the basement and make you work from the bathroom?
The recent O-Zone Podcast featuring former longtime Florida Times-Union sports columnist and Northeast Florida cultural icon/thought leader Eugene P. "Gene" Frenette is now available on Jaguars Media channels and jaguars.com. It was enjoyable. He talked Jaguars. He talked Jacksonville sports history. He talked turkey. He acknowledged his O-Zone title. A good time was had by all. I also would note here that a Podcast is a relatively simple form of content to consume and one hardly needs to associate oneself with a particularly generation to do so. As for bestowing a special title … while I certainly understand the instinct to do so, Gene needs no such bestowing. Super Writer Emeritus or O-Zone emeritus wouldn't do him justice anyway. Gene is Gene. Just Gene. And that is enough. More than enough, actually.
JT from Palm Coast, FL
Haven't messaged in a bit. Stay cautiously optimistic until the season starts, but I am more hopeful than normal and that makes me nervous. Not the point of this anyways. I watched the Mean Gene Frenette podcast. Cheers again to retirement, Gene. Legends never die!
Stay optimistic. Maintain hope. Why do this when thinking about the Jaguars? Because people around the franchise are feeling that way – and there are legitimate reasons to feel that way. That doesn't mean the Jaguars will win the Super Bowl in 2025. I don't know if they will make the playoffs. I don't know the direction. But the direction of this franchise is good. Really good. What they're doing and how they're doing it is sound. Besides … what's the harm in being optimistic about the franchise? Why not hope? As for cheering Gene's retirement … no doubt. Here's to 44 years. Amazing.
Bradley from Kansas City, MO
The first time most folks saw Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence he was a true freshman in a national championship game playing an undefeated Alabama team that featured (11) first-round draft picks and (12 ) second- and third-round picks. 'Bama had won 55 of the last 57 and seemed invincible. Lawrence and Clemson rolled them 44-16. Football experts said he looked like he could start for many NFL playoff teams the next week and they were serious. Do you think because of this impressive burst-on-the-scene performance, coaches have been reluctant to work with his mechanics, as Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen seems like the first to even refine his footwork and throwing motion?
I think there was a lot going on around the Jaguars in Lawrence's 2021 rookie season, enough that changing mechanics and footwork was low on the list. I also think that while most quarterbacks can benefit from maintenance, tweaking and focus on mechanics, we're overplaying it a bit to say that Lawrence has needed major changes to his throwing motion. Remember: Lawrence in four NFL seasons has been good at times and has played through injuries during a lot of the times in which he has struggled. I do think there's a decent chance he will benefit from the focus on footwork and mechanics required to excel in Coen's offense. This is a timing-based system that has benefited quarterbacks in recent seasons and there's no reason to think Lawrence won't benefit, too.
Pedal Bin from Farnborough, Hampshire, UK
Oh Mighty 'O' / King O All Funk, you have often told your loyal reader that your job as a reporter means you are not a fan, but when you were starting out and interviewing your first 'big name' did the young Mighty 'O' get a little bit 'fan-ish'? Have you ever asked for an autograph or to get something signed after an interview?
I've never had anything signed after an interview. And though it has been a long time since I was a "younger reporter," I don't recall being "fannish" during that time. Not that there weren't awe-inspiring moments. One of my first early interviews with a giant name came when the Times-Union sent me to Charlotte to do stories in advance of the Pepsi 400. This was either in the late 1980s or early 1990s. One of my assignments was to interview Richard Petty, whose status was legendary well beyond the scope of NASCAR. I was probably twenty-three(-ish) at the time. Petty, in keeping with every story I ever heard about him, was as classy and gracious with me as he would have been with the most-seasoned NASCAR writer. People talk about sports figures being good for their sport. I'm not sure any sports figure has been better for his/her sport than Petty was for NASCAR.
John from Jacksonville
Whenever I watch the original Star Trek and Shatner says, "To boldly go where no man has gone before," I can still hear my dad saying, "He just split an infinitive." That's how I learned what a split infinitive was among the countless other things he taught me. Dad's are cool. He would turn 100 this October if cancer hadn't gotten in the way.
I think I would have liked your dad.
Daniel from St J
The "Hunter happiness mitigating victory greeting" stuff is a little more like how the league really works?
Camp on from comforting headphones carpet and in from blue guitar in if and radio song touchdowns in tape phone with neon cat song.
Michael from Crestview Fl
The Dead Zone is here with comments ranging from the Goonies to Steinbeck. Every month I send the grandkids a book to encourage their love for reading. I need a nap till training camp.
Well done. Keep up with the book thing. It can't hurt.
Adam from Round Here
Better putt, JJ Spaun on 18 or Danny Noonan on 18?
Spaun, as most O-Zone readers certainly know, clinched the U.S. Open Sunday with a 64-foot putt on the 18th hole. It was a remarkable putt. But considering the circumstances, and the pressure, I'll go Noonan.
Scott from Aruba
Just wanted to say hello.
Goodbye.
