By Don Coble, Jax Sports Wire
JACKSONVILLE (www.jaxsportsday.com) – Facing a third down at the 3-yard line, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence took the snap, drifted left by a couple steps and through a low bullet in tight coverage to Parker Washington for a quick touchdown.
The 5-foot-10, 204-pound dynamo immediately flicked the ball into a tight spiral spin. Although it was practice at three-quarter speed, he flexed his muscles as the ball spun like a top, savoring the moment as if it were a regular season game. He also snagged a 50-yard completion.
Washington had a breakout a year ago, his fourth since leaving Penn State in 2023 after Jacksonville drafted him in the sixth round. He led the team with 58 catches for 847 yards and five TDs. In the previous two years, he had a total of 48 receptions for 532 yards and five scores.
Washington embraces the physicality of training camp. He likes to sweat, feel the grass under his feet and make impossible catches seem routine.
No matter which level he’s playing, nobody will out-work him.
“I mean, it just clicked,” after the Jaguars wrapped up their seventh day of preseason training camp. “It clicked back in middle school. I just wanted to make my parents proud, and that started. And then from there, I just grew like a grit, like no matter what. I don’t care how much pain comes with the workout, I was just in there strictly to work, strictly just be a better me.
“I feel like that just carried on through my process. I feel like now, just keep that rolling, you know? Keep going, keep being the best me.”
Washington is back in camp with a different kind of swagger. His work ethic has paid off, and others are noticing.
And with the addition of 2024 first-round pick Brian Thomas Jr. and second-round tight end Brenton Strange, Jacksonville has three legitimate targets for Lawrence.
“He’s a consistent dude,” head coach Liam Coen said. “You kind of know throughout the course of a practice that, it’s like, okay, you want to get some other guys some work, too, because you know it’s going to come, right?
“Like that (TD) completion, the connection’s going to come throughout the course of a day. And so, it allows you to know that you can maybe spread the ball around a little bit, knowing that when you come back to him, there’s likely to be a completion between the two of those guys [Thomas].”
In the process, Washington has earned a more-interested look from Lawrence.
“On the field, off the field, the communication is different,” Washington said. “Then, obviously, the trust he’s having in me on some of these passes is really cool. I know a couple years ago, he probably wouldn’t throw some of the passes he’s throwing now to me. It’s just really cool for him to have that trust in me, and I’m going to continue to make sure that he has that. I’m going to make those plays for him.”
“Every year it’s gotten better and better, but especially after last season with all the reps that we accumulated over the last nine, 10 games,” Lawrence said. “Just the way the guy works. I mean he’s always down to get extra reps after practice. He wants to talk after every rep that isn’t right on the field. Just the way he communicates with me.
“He’s just a professional, so I think it was only a matter of time before that started to show, that chemistry and the way we work together started to pay off. So just proud of that guy and love working with him.”
Washington is looking for a contract extension, but he’s letting his team and the Jacksonville front office work out the details. His attention is focused solely on football.
“[I’m] just taking it one day at a time, one rep at a time. That’s been my mindset,” he said. “How can I get better today? Not looking too far ahead, and if I have a bad rep, not looking too far in the past. So, it’s been really cool for me because since Day 1, like I said, as a rookie, I just had to come in here and grow and get better and prove my value. So that’s how I’m attacking it each day, and that’s never going to change.”
Which means he arrives at the training facility before 5 a.m. – more than three-and-a-half hours before practice. His routine includes a Facetime workout session with his trainer, then the weightroom.
“Camp is taxing, but if you want to take it to the next step and go to the next level, and [that’s] what I’m trying to do, I have to be able to do that each day and just have that prep, and like I said, be ready to go.”
Quotable
Linebacker Foye Oluokun, who led the team with 68 solo tackles last year, on his friendship with former Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, who he said played a critical role in his decision to sign as an unrestricted free agent in 2022: “When he first got here, I looked at his name and said, ‘You French, huh?’, because I knew he was from New Orleans. And then, we actually had a little mini-conversation about it.”
Short yardage
• QB Trevor Lawrence threw for 214 yards and three touchdowns – to Parker Washington, B.J. Thomas and running back LeQuint Allen Jr.
• Wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter had a heavier workload on defense during Friday morning’s 11-on-11 mock game at the Miller Electric Center. He put on a white pullover over his teal jersey for offense for nearly twice as many plays. On offense, a pass from Trevor Lawrence was broken up by cornerback Devon Marshall and a second attempt was off the mark. The second-year player, who missed the last 11 games last year ago a non-contact knee injury and surgery, also had a 10-yard jet sweep run.
• Offensive tackle Anton Harrison has been moved from right to left during the last four practices.
• Defensive end Josh Hines-Allen had a veterans’ day off and didn’t work out.
Up next
The Jaguars will be back on the field for Day 8 of camp on Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m. Saturday’s practice will be closed to the public, but fans can reserve up to four free seats for Sunday’s session at 8:30 a.m. by visiting jaguars.com.
