JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When the Jaguars were looking to add an offensive spark at the 2017 NFL Draft, they selected LSU running back Leonard Fournette with the fourth overall pick.
A year later, the team went back to the same well of talent by selecting LSU wide receiver DJ Chark with the No. 61 overall pick during the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
General manager Dave Caldwell said Chark was the best player available.
"There were a couple of offensive linemen there, but we really like this guy. We tried to move up starting at 50," Caldwell said. "Nobody likes the Jags. When we were 3-13, everybody wanted to trade with us," Caldwell said.
Chark, described by Caldwell as an excellent run blocker with rare traits to boot, recorded the fastest 40-yard dash of any receiver at the NFL Combine with a 4.34.
Chark went from no catches in his first two years at LSU, to 26 receptions as a junior, then 40 catches as a senior. In 2017, he averaged nearly 22 yards per catch despite an LSU passing game that struggled most of the year.
The first time he touched the ball in his college career, as a sophomore, he took a handoff on an end around and went 79 yards for the touchdown against Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl.
Chark was ecstatic to be drafted by the Jaguars and be reunited with his freshman year roommate Leonard Founettte.
"You've got to find a new word, this is way past excitement right now," Chark said. "I can't wait to get to Florida,"
Chark took over wearing number seven at LSU after Fournette. It's a tradition that LSU players hand down from play maker to play maker.
"I feel like this is like somebody writing a book," Chark said. "They wrote the perfect story."
What can the Jaguars expect from Chark? Caldwell called him a good blocker for a wide receiver and said that he should also help the running game because of his speed. With Chark, free agent addition Dante Moncrief and second year wide outs Dede Westbrook and Keelan Cole, the Jaguars have a group of receivers who should be able to press opposing safeties and open up room to run.
In the third round, with the 93rd pick, the Jaguars took Alabama safety Ronnie Harrison. He became the third straight SEC player drafted by the Jaguars this year. Harrison, a Tallahassee native, recorded seven interceptions in three years for the Crimson Tide and is known as a big hitter in the secondary.
Caldwell said that the Jaguars did not expect Harrison to be available when they picked in the third round and called him a smart player.
"He was a high school quarterback," Caldwell said. "He understand the game of football."
If history is any indication, Harrison will be able to adapt quickly to the NFL. Alabama players have make the jump well in recent years, including last year's second-round pick, offensive tackle Cam Robinson.