Cleaning out the notebook as the calendar gets ready to flip to June, which means we’re one month closer to football:
About the Jaguars
1. Heavy UDFA spending: According to Spotrac, the Jacksonville Jaguars spent $2.47 million guaranteed on their undrafted free agent class, second-most in the NFL (Kansas City, $3.08 million).
Running back J’Mari Taylor and defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr. received a team-high $277,500 in guaranteed money, followed by defensive lineman T.J. Bollers ($257,500) and offensive tackle Garrett DiGiorgio and quarterback Joey Aguilar ($247,500 apiece).
This year, if a player spends all 18 weeks on the practice squad, their salary is $247,500, so basically the Jaguars see those five players as worth developing if they don’t make the initial 53-man roster.
Last in undrafted rookie guaranteed money is Pittsburgh ($112,000 for its eight signees).
2. Cut-down date moved up: The NFL has moved this year’s final cut-down (90 to 53 players) date up two days to Aug. 30 (6 p.m.), followed by waiver claims on Aug. 31 (1 p.m.).
The Jaguars close the preseason on Aug. 28 against Tampa Bay. The guess is the league wanted to adjust the schedule because the regular season starts Sept. 9 (New England at Seattle on a Wednesday night).
Teams have most of their roster sketched out before the final tune-up game, but the only hiccup could be injuries. A player ticketed for waivers gets injured and thus would require an injury settlement.
3. Lawrence’s grandma fooled: Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was asked about his involvement in the Jaguars’ schedule video, a totally fun topic for him to discuss because, well, the fans enjoyed it and that’s who we’re here for, right?
Lawrence donned a wig to give the impression he had cut his hair short.
“I got a lot of texts,” he said. “My grandma texted me. People my age, typically, (didn’t) really believe it, but the older and older you get, they just couldn’t quite figure out the AI and the fakes out there.”
4. Hines-Allen present: After missing the opening organized team activity on May 26, defensive end Josh Hines-Allen participated in OTA No. 2 on May 28 per a video recap posted by the Jaguars’ social media accounts. The OTAs are voluntary per the collective bargaining agreement.
5. Joint practices confirmed: Jaguars coach Liam Coen confirmed the three joint practices (one apiece) against New Orleans, Carolina and Tampa Bay in August.
“You’re in a little bit more of a controlled setting and you can get guys specific reps and not have to worry about putting a guy in a full-contact situation in a preseason game,” Coen said of a joint practice value. “They get more competitive. You look at (the Jaguars-Miami joint practice last year), although we had some ups and downs in that practice, I thought we saw some good competitive juice and game-like participation.”
Fixing FHSAA baseball playoffs
The Florida state high school baseball playoff format is just weird.
On their way to the Class 1A and 2A titles, respectively, St. Johns Country Day and Trinity Christian played three regional rounds (single-elimination, best-of-3 and best-of-3), but it was back to single elimination for the state semifinal and final rounds.
If St. Johns coach Tom Lucas or Trinity coach Jon Murphy were in charge, would they move to a best-of-3 all the way through?
“I think we need it,” Lucas said. “They need to figure out a way to have three-game series throughout. If you’re going to do it in Rounds 2-3 (of the regionals), it makes zero sense to not do it in the Final Four and state title game even if that means you need to do it at the higher seeds for (the semifinal) round. If Georgia can do it, someway Florida has to figure out how to do it.”
Said Murphy: “I would love to see it. I think all of the coaches would love to see it. I’m sure there are some logistical challenges but (best-of-3) all the way through, you feel like the best team comes out ahead. You go two-out-of-three, two-out-of-three and then all of a sudden, your season is on the line in one game, it can get a little funky from a mental standpoint.”
The Georgia playoffs were five rounds of best-of-3 games and ran from April 24-May 27 and the final two rounds were spread across multiple locations. Etowah, the 6A champion (top class), played 39 games (32-7 record), the final 10 in the state playoffs. St. Johns played 34 games (seven in regional/state playoffs) and Trinity 35 games (eight regional/state playoffs).
Extra points
1. Farewell, cupcake weekend: SEC athletic directors voted during the week to play conference games on the second-to-last week of the regular season instead of hosting FCS teams. “That’s the end of cupcake weekend in late November,” commissioner Greg Sankey said.
Last year, the match-ups on Nov. 22 included Samford-Texas A&M (Aggies 48-0), Eastern Illinois-Alabama (Tide 56-0) and Mercer-Auburn (Tigers 62-17). This year on Nov. 21, it will be Chattanooga-Alabama, Samford-Auburn, Tennessee Tech-Mississippi State and Wofford-Ole Miss.
A smart move by the SEC to move these future games to ideally early-to-mid September.
2. Spurs-Thunder snoozer: Can a seven-game playoff series actually be boring? Yes, so far, for San Antonio-Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals. After an all-time classic Game 1 (Spurs in double overtime), Games 2-6 have been decided by nine, 15, 19, 13 and 28 points. Maybe Game 7 can save the series.
3. Put Busch on the ballot: The NASCAR Hall of Fame doesn’t face a tough decision on waving the waiting period for Kyle Busch, who died suddenly on May 21. Busch should be placed on the ballot for the next class (2028), but he should not be automatically inducted. He must be voted in, which he obviously will be.
4. Florida State hoops schedule: The ACC announced its “2026-27 opponent matrix,” on May 28; the news release did not include a quote from Keanu Reeves of “The Matrix” fame. Anyway, Florida State will play home-and-home against Miami and Clemson, host Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Notre Dame and Syracuse and play at California, Stanford, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia and Boston College.
5. Dart shouldn’t be sorry: There is no need for New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart to apologize for accepting an invitation to introduce President Trump at an appearance earlier this month. The media-driven uproar was predictably pathetic.
6. Corrections, apologies: I call out players and coaches when they make mistakes so I will throw a flag on myself. In my high school baseball column on May 27, I misidentified Trinity player Jordan Martinez as Justin, and the aforementioned Jon Murphy as Harris. Apologizes for the lazy oversight.
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night”), Thursdays (1:15 on “XL Primetime”) and Fridays (4-6 p.m. on “The Lead”).
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars see value, make major investment in undrafted free agents
Reporting by Ryan O’Halloran, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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