Last year, safety appeared to be a pressing need for the Jacksonville Jaguars despite the fact that they had signed Eric Murray and later drafted Caleb Ransaw in Round 3. They turned out to be fine. Heck, you could even make that the position became a strength because Antonio Johnson had a breakout year.
But before Johnson took off, the Jags were high on Ransaw. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending injury and had to sit out his rookie campaign.
With Andrew Wingard now with the Arizona Cardinals, Ransaw will once again have a chance to compete for a starting job, and his former head coach at Tulane recently explained why he may succeed.
Jon Sumrall is high on Jaguars sophomore Caleb Ransaw
Jon Sumrall is the head coach at Florida but coached Caleb Ransaw when he was at Troy and later Tulane. He had a sitdown with Jamal St. Cyr of News4Jax and heaped praise on Ransaw, highlighting the time he spends studying and his football IQ.
"Yeah, really cool that he's here," Sumrall told St. Cyr when asked about Ransaw. "Liam Coen, and I are good friends, too. And so Caleb's from up almost basically my hometown. He's from Tony, Alabama, which is just outside of Huntsville. I take the head job at Troy. He's a freshman on the team. When I get there, coaching for two years at Troy, then he followed me to Tulane, and so when he went through the draft process, I knew he was going to go somewhere in that second to third round."
Sumrall continued, "Probably is what it sounded like from all the teams that reached out to me. He's really, really smart. He's a football junkie. He works his tail off. You know, I'll never forget going to visit kid one time when he had to have a procedure. He was in the hospital, and he's had to have something done, and he was on his iPad watching every play of PFF of all the DBS that had draftable grades for the next year, just because he's that much of a student in the game."
During the exchange, Sumrall also praised Ransaw's athletic talent and his flexibility to line up at multiple positions.
"And so, he played outside for us at corner in 22 and then moved inside some at nickel in 23 and then played nickel the whole year in 24. But really, I think, he has the ability to be a great high safety too. I think one of the things that makes him unique is he's got the physical giftedness to play a lot of different spots in the secondary, but he's also smart and can adapt and evolve and go play a lot of different spots," Sumrall said.
As Sumrall stated, Ransaw mostly lined up at corner throughout his collegiate career, but Jacksonville drafted him with the intention to move him to safety.
The former Tulane Green Wave was making noise in training camp, but a leg injury put a premature end to his rookie campaign before it started. Had he stayed healthy, he might have started next to Eric Murray in the opener.
Last year, Ransaw was in a three-way battle with Antonio Johnson and Andrew Wingard. Dewey is gone, while Johnson is coming off a career season. Couple that with the fact that the Jags drafted Jalen Huskey, and Ransaw will once again have to prove himself.
Why Caleb Ransaw could make an impact for the Jaguars
Just because Caleb Ransaw missed his rookie season doesn't mean the Jaguars have given up on him. You could argue that the Jalen Huskey pick isn't good news for him, but the team's brass simply took advantage of the opportunity to bolster the safety group.
It's also worth noting that Ransaw kept attending meetings even after getting hurt, and that kind of preparation could give him the edge.
Now, it's up to him to take everything he learn in the classroom and apply it on the football field.
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