New Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive coordinator Grant Udinski has been a very fast riser in the coaching ranks at still just 29 years old.
Recently on the ‘Helmets and Heels’ radio show on 1010XL, Minnesota Vikings beat reporter Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune provided some insight into Udinski and the success he’s had with quarterbacks.
“He’ll say this,” said Goessling about Udinski, “‘I’m young, I don’t have kids, I don’t have a family yet, so I can be the guy, whatever hours of the day you need something, I’m here to talk with you. This is what I’m all in on and what I’m invested in.’
“That level of commitment to players is probably the thing that sticks out most about him and that’s what you’ll hear a lot of quarterbacks say about him. He will do whatever he possibly can to make a player better and have them more prepared for what they have to do on Sunday.”
“Grant Udinski will do whatever he possibly can to make a player better.”
Vikings beat reporter Ben Goessling joins Helmets and Heels to discuss the new leader of the Jaguars offense!
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Part of that commitment, as Goessling would also mention, was that last offseason and into training camp, Udinski and rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy would routinely have late night conversations, where Udinski answered whatever questions McCarthy had.
During Udinski’s time with Minnesota, he was promoted during each of the three seasons he spent with the team. And in addition to working closely with the quarterbacks, he also worked closely with head coach Kevin O’Connell.
The Vikings’ offense under O’Connell ranked ninth in points per game last season and veteran quarterback Sam Darnold would have a career year in Minnesota.
A top priority for head coach Liam Coen, Udinski, quarterbacks coach Spencer Whipple, and pass game coordinator Shane Waldron will be getting Trevor Lawrence back on track.
How to go about doing that was the main question that owner Shad Khan asked all of the head coaching candidates, and Coen’s answer helped separate him from the rest.
Of course, there’s a lot that goes into that answer, but in part, it will include building the offense around Lawrence, as Coen mentioned, and we can glean from Coen’s time with Tampa Bay that a strong run game is an important factor as well.
“How do we make Trevor Lawrence and this offense as dynamic and explosive as we can be? We’ve got to build it around him, we’ve got to make every part of this about improvement, and he will be a part of that process,” Coen said during Monday’s introductory press conference.
“He’s earned that right. I cannot respect his toughness and mentality and work ethic more than I do already from afar. This will all be about Trevor.”
