Rookie T.J. Yeldon dazzles Jags with more than his rushing ability

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – T.J. Yeldon found himself in an odd spot leading up to his first day of training camp.

He was summoned to the quarterbacks room.

New Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson brought the rookie into the passers' meetings and had him sit through strategy lessons next to Blake Bortles, Chad Henne, Jeff Tuel and Stephen Morris.

"He was making calls like we were," Henne said.

Olson quizzed Yeldon toward the end of one session and the entire room was impressed how well the Alabama product picked up the offense.

"Extremely rare," Henne said. "He's a guy who understands where to be, where to go, who to key."

How'd he get this way? Well, this is what Yeldon said Monday about how he has spent his time since the college playoff semifinal game: "Ever since I was done with football, since we lost our last game against Ohio State, I've just been football, working out and training." He went on to say, "It's been constantly football every day."

He said he tries to "take some breaks sometimes" to avoid burnout. This is a rookie who just got paid a ton of money and moved to a new city on the beach. Although Yeldon said he spent the summer back home in Alabama, working out. "I was by myself," he said.

Yeldon isn't much of a talker. "He won't say hardly anything," said Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. But he seems to be a learner. He has already become known here for intense preparation and perfectionism, becoming more than a little bit bothered when he makes any kind of error. "He has really good instincts," Bradley said. "When he makes a mistake, he corrects it immediately. He's very, very sharp," Bradley said.

He is also very strong. His new teammate in the backfield, Denard Robinson, played against Yeldon when the converted quarterback was a senior at Michigan and Yeldon was in his first year. "This dude is a grown man," Robinson thought back then. Yeldon had 6.3 yards per carry that season, with 12 touchdowns in 14 games. He had 14 more scores in 2013 and another 11 last season, and he had to share carries with Eddie Lacy and Derrick Henry over the course of his three-year career.

That made him a second-round pick in the 2015 draft, but the season-ending injury to first-round pick, defensive end Dante Fowler, Jr. makes Yeldon the star attraction of this year's Jaguars class. He might have been that anyway, considering Jacksonville has been known for rushers far more than it's been known for wins. The Jags have had Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew performing well even during lean years, and Yeldon has a shot to be the next mainstay here. They need him to be; the team is long on youth but short on wattage.

He also has a chance to rack up some significant stats. Bortles, plagued by a "dead-arm" ailment as a rookie, is the No. 1 passer in training camp for the first time, and he could use some backfield help. The Jags have lost 19 games over the last two seasons by 10 points or more, and the team hasn't had 2,000 yards rushing for a season since 2010. So a dependable ground game would protect Bortles in the pocket and on the scoreboard.

That's the biggest challenge for Yeldon in the coming weeks. If he can recognize defensive coverage and pick up blitzes, he will be just what the team needs at that position.

And from the way he's spending his meeting time, Yeldon is already well on his way.

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