With a new owner, a new coach and a few new faces, the Jacksonville Jaguars have reason to be excited about the season.

Players are energized and fans are optimistic -- the kind of feelings the franchise has seldom enjoyed while missing the playoffs 10 of the past 12 years.

How long those last likely will depend on quarterback Blaine Gabbert. The 10th overall pick in last year's NFL draft, Gabbert has to be more productive for the Jaguars to turn things around in 2012.

"I would expect significant progress in his play from Year 1 to Year 2," general manager Gene Smith predicted last month.

If not, the Jaguars could be in for another long season.

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Gabbert completed 50.8 percent of his passes for 2,214 yards as a rookie, with 12 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also was sacked 40 times. The biggest concern was that he seemed to feel phantom pressure, which caused sloppy footwork, off-balance throws and inaccuracy.

The former Missouri standout had plenty of excuses: an off-season program significantly shortened by the NFL lockout, a lame-duck coaching staff that included a former receivers coach serving as his tutor, and arguably the worst receiving corps in the league. He also spent much of his college career working from the shotgun formation in a spread offense, so his transition to pro-style sets took time.

And to be fair, Gabbert wasn't even supposed to play last season.

The Jaguars drafted him with the intention of letting him sit as a rookie and learn from veteran David Garrard. But Garrard re-injured his back during training camp and struggled in the preseason, prompting the Jaguars to cut him just days before the opener. Even then, Luke McCown was given the starting job. But after two lackluster weeks, Gabbert got the call.

He started 14 games and looked every bit like a young kid in a tough spot.

"It was an unfortunate situation having to come in August," Gabbert said. "It takes time. It's not one of those things you can pick up overnight when you step onto an NFL football field as a 21- or 22-year-old kid trying to learn a new system. It's just different from what you've learned in the past."

The Jaguars went 5-11 in what was the most tumultuous season in franchise history.

Coach Jack Del Rio was fired in November after a 3-8 start, let go the same day that the team was sold to billionaire Shad Khan. Interim coach Mel Tucker took over and shook things up by firing an assistant coach and releasing a starting receiver.

Just about every major move since has been to make Gabbert better.

Khan and Smith hired former Buffalo Bills coach and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey as the franchise's third head coach. Mularkey brought QB coach Bob Bratkowski with him from Atlanta to serve as offensive coordinator and hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Greg Olson as quarterbacks coach.

Bratkowski and Olson spent much of the offseason tweaking Gabbert's mechanics, starting with shortening his stride.

"We've slowed some things down with the drop, just to maintain that balance," Mularkey said. "We're not asking him to drop as deep just so he remains balanced so he's not too fast into it where he doesn't keep his balance. Slowly but surely, it's getting better and better."

The Jaguars have tried to surround Gabbert with better talent, too.

They signed former Dallas Cowboys receiver Laurent Robinson to a five-year, $32.5 million contract and traded up to select Oklahoma State star wideout Justin Blackmon with the fifth overall pick in April's draft. The additions should help improve what was the league's worst offense in 2011.