There’s a lot to look at during training camp, a whole lot of potential, and it’s all going to boil over because of one man: Mike Mularkey.

Training camp is a time for sports enthusiasts to take a break from baseball and turn their attention to football.  It’s a time when information seems plentiful and the oasis of NFL football rescues us from the mundane offseason.  Yet as much as we enjoy it, we put no work in.  That is not so for the head coach.

Each year, mini-camps and training camps are the brainchild of the head coach. The drills, timing, sets, number of reps, organization of players, division of labor among coaches, everything is decided by the head coach.  He sets it all up, and without him there wouldn’t be the oasis of football we all crave.

Getting Better Blaine! Source: US-Presswire

Mularkey has experience in training camps as a player, assistant coach, coordinator, and head coach.  He knows the ins and outs of how to run a camp better than most players on the Jaguars roster know how to do drills.  Each time Mularkey hunkers down on the sideline to watch Bob Bratkowski’s offense in action he will be watching for something to correct.  Will it be Gabbert’s shoulder level, Greg Jones’ blocking, or maybe Justin Blackmon’s failure to begin a circus catch from his left foot?  We don’t know, but the seasoned eyes of Bratkowski, Mularkey, and wide receiver coach Jerry Sullivan will.

The team is coming into training camp hot.  Not as hot as Ryan Kalil and the Panthers – who apparently think they will win a Super Bowl – but hotter than they have in the past few years.  The battles and focus in this year’s camp will not be the Oklahoma Drill and pitting first round picks against older first round picks.  This year will be about perfection.

The brand-new offense of the Jaguars has been installed, is understood by everyone (except Maurice Jones-Drew) and will be honed to perfection this training camp.  No longer will Gabbert be taking reps with the third team and watching David Garrard throw.  No longer will Rashad Jennings be thinking about what could have been last season.  No longer will Laurent Robinson be thinking about who he has to beat to gain a roster spot.  Those questions are answered because the situation in Jacksonville is coming together under Mularkey.

Like a puzzle, the pieces in Jacksonville are coming together to show a near-complete picture.  Mularkey has set all the edge pieces out and it is now the job to fill in the rest.  He’s done such a good job thus far that all the players have to do is do as they’re told.

- Luke N. Sims

Feel free to leave comments on here or visit us at Facebook or Twitter!

You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims

Yet they are going to win the Super Bowl.

Even though I mock the prediction (and I’m calling it and saying they will not win the Super Bowl this year), I really liked the bravado of Mr. Kalil.  He took out a full page ad in the Charlotte Observer to proclaim his prediction and firmly believes in his teammates.  Despite rebuilding, the team just received resounding support from one of their veteran cornerstones.  Every player in that locker room just went “we can do this!”  I guarantee it.

This guy could be smiling all season long! Source: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Bravado, arrogance, self-confidence, and conceit all have some negative sides too them.  You’re either talking too much, not backing up your talk, looking down your nose at others, or so obsessed with the play you bring that you think you can win games entirely on your own.  Yet there is something refreshing about it all.  It displays the feelings you have about your team and yourself.

Terrell Owens was always fun to watch, not because he was good (which he was) but because he always thought that with the ball in his hands he could score a touchdown.  ”Get your popcorn ready” was as much a proclamation of confidence as saying the team will win a Super Bowl.  The only difference is that TO generally scores a bit more than a center.  While a continual distraction off the field, some of the players who jaw a lot tend to make impacts that are felt across the team, through the season, and into the post-season (they the team gets there).

Elite Eli Manning was able to claim he was elite in a press conference.  We all scoffed. Tom Coughlin’s job was on the hot seat, nobody knew of Victor Cruz, and Brandon Jacobs just was not impressing anybody anymore.  Yet in February it was the Giants hoisting the Lombardi trophy behind a superb season by the younger Manning.

There’s a time and place for self-confidence.  A lot of players confuse that time and place as being whenever they are in front of a microphone.  What is so irksome about Ryan Kalil’s proclamation is that he is not one of those guys.  He does not get in front of the camera each week and tell  everyone to watch him lay a DT on his ass.  He’s a quiet man, does his job very well, and right now he’s got a confidence that is tough to ignore.

Cam Newton is something special and the Panthers are building something great on the East Coast.  Who knows, this year may just be their year.

- Luke N. Sims

Feel free to leave comments on here or visit us at Facebook or Twitter!

You can also find me on Twitter @LukeNSims