Urban Meyer Advised Trevor Lawrence In Timing Of Pro Day

Urban Meyer knows all about coaching college quarterbacks, and now he's advised one who's headed to the pros.

In fact, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence is highly likely headed to Meyer's new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Lawrence is all but guaranteed to be selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft this year, and Meyer and the Jaguars own that pick.

So it's not exactly a surprise that Meyer offered him his thoughts about the minor shoulder surgery Lawrence must undergo this offseason.

"We did a Zoom call with him, and I asked him, 'There are three choices you have. Number one, you can wait until March 11 Pro Day – but now you are getting near August ,''' Meyer said on NFL Network. "'That's getting late because it's a five-month recovery. It's a six-month injury. The second thing, you cannot throw.' 

''He's probably a good enough player, but he said, 'I'm not doing that.' Third thing, I said, 'Why don't you just grab the ball and go throw for a little bit? I'd like to send our coordinator and passing-game coordinator to watch.' They've never seen him. I've seen him. He said, 'Let's go.'"

Lawrence threw almost 40 passes at his own pro day last week. He wasn’t wearing pads, and his throws came against no defense. So as suspected, the vast majority of his passes were right on target. A few of them even dazzled.

“Obviously I’ve got to still continue talking to the doctors and see how the rehab goes, but I think I can throw in six to eight weeks after the surgery. And then looking at a four-to-five-month full clearance,” Lawrence said. “But obviously, I’ll be able to do stuff before then. But just glad it’s non-throwing shoulder, so shouldn’t be too bad. Just got to rehab really hard and work hard to get back. But I’m just excited to get that fixed and start that road to getting healthy.”

Lawrence is having surgery on his non-throwing shoulder and is expected to need six to eight weeks for recovery.

"Obviously, it wasn’t necessarily the ideal situation and circumstances," Lawrence said of his pro day. "But I think we did a great job of just kind of maneuvering and navigating through all that.”