Doug Marrone has announced that rookie 7th round pick Leon Jacobs will be starting at outside linebacker in the Jaguars opener against the New York Giants.
"I don’t [consider him an underdog]," Head Coach Doug Marrone said during a meeting with the media earlier this week. “Maybe because of the position he plays and the draft. I don’t know anything about that, but we liked him coming out. I know when we watched him I know I liked him and I was happy to get him.”
Jacobs will be playing alongside Telvin Smith and Myles Jack, a young group that the Jags organization would love to see play and grow together. Leon did well enough in training camp and the pre-season to be able to sit out the 4th game of the pre-season.
Coach Marrone went on to say, “Like I said before when he’s on the field he’s very bright, smart, strong. When he was out there he looked like an NFL football player, I think he has played well and he has gotten better and he still has a long way to go, but he’s working hard at it.”
He also added, “My expectation is I need you to give your best effort, your best foot forward because those are things that do not take talent. To go out there and work extremely hard and do those things, for me, that’s what I look at from everyone. And then it’s, can we develop them? Can we coach them? Do they have enough talent, strength, and knowledge to go out there and produce and perform?”