Watch: Draft's Top Rising OL Talks Jaguars, Tony Boselli

We spoke to North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel at the NFL Scouting Combine this week to get his take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

To view his comments, watch above.

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski spoke last week. For a partial transcript, read below.

Q: On what makes Offensive Line Coach Shaun Sarrett a valuable addition to the staff?

Udinski: “Yeah, Shaun brings a lot to the table in terms of, once again, football-wise, the same thing I talked about with the coaching staff, whether it's schematic, philosophically football-wise, the alignment there from Liam all the way to myself and down throughout the staff, but also the type of guy he is, the energy he brings, the relationships he forms with players, the relationships he forms with staff. You're going to get a genuine, hard-working, caring guy that's going to go above and beyond just like hopefully the rest of us will, to bring out the best in the players and each of us as staff members. The great thing about our relationship and kind of having that foundation there is he can be honest with me, I can be honest with him. I'm not going to be perfect and I'm not going to pretend to be perfect, so you need to have those relationships and open an honest communication, so that way people can tell you when I screw something up or misspeak it. Thankfully, I can lean heavily on Shaun to do that for me.”

Q: On the impact Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell had on him in his three years in Minnesota?

Udinski: “Well, how much time do we have? But he influenced me in probably more ways than I even recognize, to be honest with you. In terms of the game, seeing the pass game, seeing how you build an offense, seeing how you teach an offense and build that progression, and then most importantly, probably the quarterback position, how you develop that starting from the ground up, laying the foundation and scaffolding things in a true progression that allows those guys to learn and grow in an environment that maximizes their chance of success. So, I could probably go on for hours about what that kind of process looks like, but from a football standpoint, he kind of covers all the bases in terms of, you learn things explicitly and implicitly in terms of just concepts or certain schemes and philosophies, but all the way down to the detail on how those concepts are executed or how those concepts are implemented or how those concepts are game planned. I think that's something that he does at a really high level and the results kind of speak for itself with him and the success he's had there in Minnesota, and even prior to that. And then on top of that, my role, I was in a very fortunate position to be with him and spend so much time with him. Seeing the connector that he is and the type of person that he is and the impact that he has on people's lives, not just in the meeting room and with us as coaches or with the players, but even beyond with the entire organization from everybody in that building or everyone that walks through that building feels his impact and his presence and the culture that he's set there. That pays dividends and kind of has a ripple effect beyond his immediate reach.”

Q: On if the staff feels ‘youthful’ and what the advantages are to having younger coaching personnel?

Udinski: “I probably wouldn't describe it like that. I would say we have an energetic staff for sure. So, maybe that's how I would look at it there, but in the sense of youth, I think you feel the energy, the excitement, the passion for football, for coaching, and the work that goes into making this thing ultimately what we want it to be. I think that carries over not only into our interactions with each other so far, but I think that will show up in our relationships with the players and the relationships, hopefully, with everyone else in the building. So, I think the energy there is palpable.”

Q: On if it feels different than the staff that he started on in Carolina in 2020?

Udinski: “Every staff is different. Every staff is unique, certainly. At the end of the day, football is still played by people. It's still coached by people. So, it's individuals. It's certainly different in some ways. There are probably some ways that it's similar, but ultimately every staff you're on is different. Even year-to-year, you typically have a guy leave. It's just like players, on the coaching staff. It's never going to be the same exact staff every year, so there are certainly some differences.”

Q: On his thoughts on having WR Brian Thomas Jr. and being able to use him within the schemes?

Udinski: “Yeah, excitement. Once again, so probably that would be the same thing I answered for probably ten of these questions as excitement overall. Like we talked about with the players and the opportunity to work with these guys, he's one of the guys where you watch the tape and it's hard to stay seated watching his tape. Just in terms of the excitement and the tools and the ability that he has and the potential there for, you saw the results this year, but the potential for growth beyond this year and the different ways you can use him to attack defenses in a multitude of ways.”

Q: On what stands out about Lawrence that he’s most excited for?

Udinski: “There's a lot that stands out. Once again, that the physical talent you can see, and you guys probably have had more time watching it than even me over the course of the past couple of years. The most exciting thing for me is the guy and the person as I've started to form this relationship, because like I said, the quarterback position is still played by a person. It's still a human being back there who's got to stand back there and navigate tight pockets and hits and escape and deal with ten other guys in the huddle, all eleven on defense, and make those decisions in snap judgment. So, the person that we're getting to deal with and work with on a day-to-day basis is super exciting for me because, listen, if we're up here spending as much time as we do trying to pour ourselves into somebody, he's the type of guy that you want to invest time in.”

Q: On how important is it to develop the running game: Udinski?

“Yeah, we'll be multiple. We want to be a complete offense in the sense that we have the ability to attack defenses in a variety of ways, whether that is in the run game or the pass game or screen game, whatever that may be. You need to kind of have all the tools in the bag and then find the way to make those players, to take those tools and fit them to the players that you have. So, it comes down to how can we take what our guys execute, what our guys execute well, and put those players in the best position for success. So, the run game is a piece of that without a doubt because we never want to become one-dimensional. We always want to be dictating and having the ability to run the ball and run on our terms and be attacking like I talked about earlier, kind of predicated on the ability to do that down in and down out.”

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @JaguarsOnSI and @_John_Shipley and never miss another breaking news story again.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.