JAGUARS RB TRAVIS ETIENNE JR. INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE

TRAVIS ETIENNE JR. (On what the road’s been like and if he believed it’d be possible to get to this point) “I can say I always thought it’d be possible, but just to see it coming full circle feels really amazing, honestly. Being from Jennings, Louisiana, a town of 10,000, a very small town. Just kind of crazy I’m here in Jacksonville, but I’m really excited, I really can’t wait, and I just thank God for my journey. It couldn’t have ended in a better way.”

ETIENNE (On his first impressions of Trevor Lawrence) “Well when Trevor arrived on campus he was just about business since day one. Trevor always had that persona about him that he was ready to go. He’s always been cool, calm and collected. He was a freshman, but he was a sophomore really, when he came in you just knew what you were getting from Trevor day in and day out. My favorite play that I’ve seen of Trevor’s — and I’ve seen many — but it was probably the Georgia Tech game. He just floats the ball up and I think Amari [Rodgers] maybe running full speed and catches the ball and scores. I’ve seen that a million times with Trevor. You get kind of caught in the moment because I’m right there next to him and he’s the first pick in the draft, and that’s kind of crazy and I’m thankful that I got to be on this journey and we get to continue our journey together.”

ETIENNE (on how much of a comfort it is having Trevor as his quarterback in Jacksonville) “I feel like it provides you with a sense of normalcy having Trevor here just being with him the past three years. I feel that if I was with or without Trevor, I’d be making plays, that’s kind of what I’m here to do. I’m just thankful that I have Trevor and we’re on the same team. We don’t have to fight against each other.”

URBAN MEYER (on what Coach Swinney told him about Etienne): “I’ve known both these guys a long time and maybe not personally but as someone involved in college football and recruiting, and I’ve admired his play. Dabo [Swinney] and I go way, way back, so we’ve had some very good conversations about both Trevor and Travis, but it was really nothing I wasn’t aware of because I saw firsthand, I saw the violence that he plays with and the speed — speed wins. We were a team that really struggled with big play hits last year and, especially in the NFL, but the opportunity to sustain 10-, 12-, 13-play drives, the percentages say that doesn’t happen, so we need some hits and we didn’t have it. Travis has got that gift. He’s got that gift of if that guy touches the ball there’s a chance it’s going, and that’s the biggest thing I looked at. Of course the high quality — I look forward to meeting with his family, that’s always very important to me, extremely high quality family and someone that’s going to be here grinding, that’s real important to this organization as well.”

ETIENNE (on how the team is going to count on him to make big plays) “I just want to piggyback off of what Trevor said and continue to be ourselves. I feel like our whole careers we’ve made big plays and that’s how we’ve gotten here to this point. No need to change who you are, who you have been, just got to get into the weight room, get in the film study, learn the playbook and stuff like that. I feel as if we can continue to take care of things we’ve been taking care of, the film will take care of itself and there will be plenty of big plays around here.”

ETIENNE (on how important it was to develop into a pass-catching running back) “It was very important, especially with where the position is headed. For the running backs, you want to be an every-down back, three-down back, be out there on third down so you get those little dump offs that turn into 10-, 20-yard gains. I feel as if my transition, it was really amazing to have Trevor. He’s here again, so we worked on that every day after practice, I found a jug machine and we just owned it, we wanted to be better, so we got in there and we worked after practice.”

OWNER SHAD KHAN: “Quick learner!”

URBAN MEYER (on how hard is to build a team that is faster than everybody else at the NFL level) “It’s so hard. Everyone’s trying, that’s not a secret. I know we have another day and a half of drafting, but I kind of like where we’re at. We have some juice on the field now, and we have an opportunity to get even faster coming up here, but it’s got to be the right kind of speed, it’s got to be efficient speed, it’s got to be speed that — you know I’ve had fast guys that aren’t very good players — and this guy checked all the boxes as far as that. The other thing about offensive football is it’s a matchup game too, and that’s where you look for a player that has a little bit of hybrid or can do a couple things. Travis is very appealing when you can move him out there and you figure their fourth-best cover guy is going to cover a guy like this. He’s got a long way to go in certain areas, but he is really talented and Clemson did a really good job with him to this point.”

ETIENNE (on what it was about Jacksonville that appealed to him): “I knew Trevor was coming here. You’d be crazy not to want to play with Trevor Lawrence. I definitely wanted to be with Trevor. I feel as if, like I said earlier, it brings me that sense of normalcy being with him these past three years. I feel like I can’t wait to do great things here.

ETIENNE (on him and Lawrence’s chemistry) “We built a lot of chemistry, especially these past two years. His freshman year, I wasn’t that much of a receiving threat. His sophomore and junior years, we stayed out after practice and kept working, kept working, kept working. You just see it kind of pays off. You see it on the field now, he’s throwing me darts, things he probably would’ve thrown to me his freshman year, now he has the confidence in me and trust in me, so I’m grateful.”