ATHENS — It hasn’t taken long for No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Travon Walker to set the tempo in Jacksonville.
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson indicated Walker has arrived with the same sense of urgency that Georgia football operates with on a daily basis.
“He’s such a pro, he’s so hard on himself,” Pederson said. “He doesn’t want to make a mistake and you just have to tell him, ‘Hey, just calm down, relax, everything’s going to be okay. We have plenty of time before we play a game.’
“But you like players like that who are critical of themselves and their performance because they want to do well, and he’s been one of those guys.”
NFL teams have surely noticed a trend with the defensive players Georgia has turned out, and Philadelphia Eagles rookie Nakobe Dean explained why.
“It was always, you can do this better, you made this play, you got this Pick 6, but you could have gotten to the end zone faster if you took this step, or, you could have read the play faster,” Dean said in one of this first NFL interviews.
“Or, you got a sack, but you could have gotten a sack-fumble. So it was never pat yourself on the back.”
Pederson said Walker has “been doing really well” and is embracing the new role Jacksonville is asking him to play as an outside linebacker in its defensive scheme.
Walker explained how multiple the end position is in Coach Kirby Smart’s scheme.
“Playing at the end at the University of Georgia is very different .. you play a lot of different defenses, so you can be scattered all over the field,” Walker said at the NFL Combine, sharing four different alignments where he would set up from game to game. “You’re really doing everything to expand your resume and it’s really a good thing.”
There were some who questioned Walker being selected ahead of Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who was selected No. 2 overall by the Detroit Lions.
Hutchinson is in a different place right now than Walker, according to an MLive.com report:
“Hutchinson said his first goals of the offseason are to get back into football shape. He admitted he was sucking some wind to get started, but “I’m feeling good but definitely gotta keep working.”
Said Michigan coach Dan Campbell, “I know that he’s just happy to be here and he’s in a classroom learning football.”
The stark contrast between Walker and Hutchinson’s approach and preparedness brings more questions to John Harbaugh’s comments this offseason that Michigan and Alabama are built more like NFL programs than others.
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For that matter, New England second-year quarterback Mac Jones made a comment this week that brought into question part of Alabama’s program.
“I’ve learned more this offseason than I probably ever have about nutrition, sleep, wellness, all that stuff,” Jones reportedly said after the Patriots’ practice on Monday.
The practice reports represent small sample sizes, but at the same time, provide evidence that sweeping conclusions like Harbaugh made can have exceptions or quickly be disproven.
