JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Urban Meyer didn’t have to ask too many questions of scouts about the Jaguars’ fifth-round pick. Tight end Luke Farrell was recruited by and played for Meyer at Ohio State. Farrell, who is from Perry, Ohio, about 30 minutes drive from Meyer’s hometown of Ashtabula, was mainly used as a blocking back in his days with the Buckeyes.
Background
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The 6-foot-6 tight end was selected with the 145th pick of the draft. He caught 34 passes in his career, 20 of them during his sophomore season, Meyer’s last as the Buckeye’s head coach. He totaled four touchdowns in his career. To say he was a downfield threat would be a stretch. his longest reception was 16 yards. Among his touchdowns was a score against Trevor Lawrence’s Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff semi-finals.
Quotable
“I definitely think I’m one of the best, if not the best, block tight ends coming out of this class. But I think one of my biggest strengths is my versatility and my toughness. I think whatever they’re going to ask me to do, I can do at a high level—and we were asked to do a lot as tight ends at Ohio State and I know I can continue to do that. And then, I think I play the game with a lot of toughness, in every aspect.”---Farrell
“I think if you talk to Ohio State staff, they’ll tell you [he was] underutilized. If you look at their tight end core as a whole last year, they have a young man that’s on that team right now that’s going to be one of the top tight ends in the country. His production, when you look at the stats, isn’t great. I think they would say that that’s one thing they’re going to be working on too. But we had a lot of collaboration obviously with Ohio State and their staff and how he was used, and you went to his pro day and you saw things in him on pro day that made you believe there’s some upside as a receiver and he’s not limited to just being a blocking tight end.”---Jaguars’ general manager Trent Baalke.
“He’s from right outside my hometown. His people are my people, they’re all just wonderful people in that area — Perry, Ohio. I love Luke, I love his family. He’s a plus-two mentality all the way. He’s a worker, a grinder, and to see him where he’s at from where he came, he’s brilliant by the way and he’s tough. He’s not the pass-catching tight end but one way to also help a young quarterback — and if you’ve ever looked at our young quarterbacks when they would play — the number one way to help a young quarterback is to have a successful run game. Not be one-dimensional and let the defensive ends in the NFL taking swings at you every down. That’s why we took Chris Manhertz and Luke Farrell to be creative in some of the run-game formations.”---Meyer
Highlights
What the analysts are saying
“Farrell is a gritty, assignment-sound blocker, but his acceleration and playmaking skills are non-threatening. He projects as an NFL rotational Y tight end. Overall: priority free agent.”---Dane Brugler, The Athletic