Jaguars Pro Series Program Helping to Prepare Players Off the Field

In this NFL offseason age of Zoom calls and virtual meetings, Marcus Pollard at least has some help. The Jacksonville Jaguars Director of Player Engagement and Youth Football has been acting as a guide for the Jags' biggest rookie class in his time. But sometimes, they end up helping him.

“They’ve helped me along the way and answered some questions I’ve had [like] ‘so how do I get back to share my screen’ and one of the rookies will answer the question,” laughs Pollard.

“To me that’s the one thing that’s a tremendous help, that most of these guys are tech-savvy. An old dinosaur like myself, I need help at every turn…so it’s been really cool.”

While the 30-member rookie class has been teaching Pollard the ways of technology, he’s been tasked with teaching them the ways of professional ballplayers.

“A lot of what I'm doing is trying to get them ready for life in the NFL. And it's kind of tough to say, I'm trying to get you ready for life in the NFL when none of them are even here and are still at home. And so that's a challenge in itself, but just trying to get them to understand what we as an organization want for them. To be not only well-rounded football players but to be great people in the community and stewards of what they have is what we're trying to teach them.”

With such a large class and a young team, Pollard points out a lot of these 12 draft picks and 18 free agents will be “called on to play.” And he’s been impressed with their questions and effort in “putting their best foot forward.” First though, he will prepare them for the full-time job that is the NFL, on and off the field.

“I focus on three areas for those rookies: finance, fitness, and fame. Fitness is about what they do with their bodies: They're taking performance-enhancing drugs. What are they eating? Their sleeping habits. Those sorts of things fall into that fitness space, and finance speaks for itself: Their benefits package, their 401k business package, how do they get paid? How often do they get paid? Talk about their budget. Getting a CPA, their taxes. Estate planning. So those few things fall under that financial part of it."

"The fame is what they're doing now. The virtual - talked about Twitter a few minutes ago. Snapchat, Instagram, how they handle themselves in the community. The way they interview. Those sorts of things fall underneath fame. Them getting arrested in the community and how it affects their brand. So, those are the kind of things that we talk about in rookie space.”

In preparing to do so, the Jaguars noticed an area that had been not explored as in-depth in the past. So in addition to the virtual rookie symposium, the organization has begun the Jaguars Pro-Series. It addresses some of the same topics as the rookie class but geared towards life after football. Guest speakers include Jaguar legends, CEO’s such as Matthew Higgins, authors like Jon Gordon and other industry experts.

“It’s the opportunity to help develop the modern-day athlete.

"We had our first presentation on the power of networking and the gentleman spoke on building a million-dollar tribe and how going through using the platform that they have now as current NFL players and some of our legends—although you’re a legend you’re still not out of the game—and building that network of people that you can rely on and count on. 

"So our next series will be, next presentation will be Matthew Higgins who’s served on the Shark Tank, has done a lot of great work in New York in building the towers back. And so we’re going to have him talk about CEO and comparing the relationship mentally—a player thinking about themselves as a CEO, them as their own company, their own business and how the similarities of having the right people around you and the things that you need to do to become a successful CEO and compare that to a football player.

“And then we’re gonna have Jon Gordon talk to them about the importance of being a leader and mentor at the same time. And then the last one will be a little bit about real estate. So we’re gonna have four series, different things and to me just a way to help them grow, to think about themselves more than just professional football players but more about a profession, being a professional in every aspect of the word.”

This series has pulled the curtain back on important topics and from there has opened up conversations between teammates that foster a better understanding amongst each other.

“[Quarterback] Josh Dobbs comes to mind right away,” recalls Pollard.

“Was very engaging, shared a lot of information about him networking, and the power of networking for him. He talked about his time at Tennessee, talked about his time in Pittsburgh, and he talked about his time in Jacksonville, and how all of that has evolved him and helped build his tribe. 

[Safety] Doug Middleton was another one that spoke about the importance of the people that he surrounded himself with because he started a foundation about [mental health]…but how the people in his circle helped him form his foundation. So those are two current guys that really spoke out to what our first meeting was all about, and it was great to have that content because now the other guys that are listening had an opportunity to speak and share, and so it was a really good opportunity to have great dialogue. Our veteran guys spoke, our legend guys spoke, so it was a really good conversation."