Why Trevor Lawrence isn't Urban Meyer's first-choice QB for the Jacksonville Jaguars yet?

When the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick, he seemed to be the team's incumbent starting quarterback.

With other options featuring the likes of former starter Gardner Minshew II and journeyman quarterback C.J. Beathard, it seemed that the Jaguars were planning on starting Lawrence in Week 1.

NFL teams don't usually draft a quarterback with the first overall pick and bench him unless there's a veteran on the team who is on the verge of retirement. But with that not being the case with the Jaguars, the team's new head coach, Urban Meyer, refusing to name Lawrence as the starter was a head-scratcher.

Why hasn't Trevor Lawrence been named the Jaguars starting QB yet?

Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was quoted as saying last week that the team "wasn't in a position" to name a starting quarterback before training camp. He went on to say that Lawrence was learning the playbook well and progressing in the right direction.

This week, head coach Urban Meyer did an interview on 'Sports Seriously' with USA Today's Mackenzie Salmon. He elaborated on why he and his coaching staff haven't officially announced Trevor Lawrence as the starter yet. He said:

"He's not ready yet, but he doesn't have to be ready yet," Meyer said. "We got a long training camp coming up. He's probably advanced maybe a little quicker than we would've thought, so which was a positive. One thing that we worked on — when we made a decision that Trevor was going to be our No. 1 pick, we went from the evaluation stage to the preparation stage. And that means that I want to see — I can't remember the exact date, but we started installing the playbook with him well before the draft. So you can see the retention, he's got a really good work ethic and he's progressed very well."

Meyer further added that he drafted Trevor Lawrence because he was extremely impressed with his performance at Clemson. He said that he also knows Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney quite well and that he knew that Lawrence's character and work ethic would be something he wanted for the Jaguars team as a whole.

Urban Meyer: Trevor Lawrence 'not ready yet' https://t.co/eTXH45GS5o

— NBC Sports EDGE Football (@NBCSEdgeFB) June 25, 2021

Meyer feels that as the new head coach of the Jaguars he needs to give each of the quarterbacks, Lawrence, Minshew, Beathard and Jake Luton, a fair opportunity in training camp to compete for the position. Meyer doesn't want to throw a rookie like Lawrence into the starting quarterback position if he isn't completely ready to do so.

While Lawrence seems pro-ready, there will be a slight learning curve in the transition from college football to the NFL. Learning the playbook is something that Lawrence is already doing and seems to be doing quite well.

Urban Meyer on Trevor Lawrence's development: "He's not ready yet" https://t.co/G4Qwzd6csw

— Clemson_Tigers (@Clemson_Tigers) June 26, 2021

Even with a healthy quarterback competition in training camp, the odds still seem to be in Trevor Lawrence's favor and he will likely be named the starting quarterback for Week 1.