Sports

Cole Pepper: Jaguars End Season With Loss, Young Scores 1,000 For Gators

WJCT News | By Cole Pepper

Published December 30, 2013 at 11:48 AM EST

First Coast Connect sports contributor Cole Pepper checked in on Monday with his First Coast sports wrap, including a look at the Jaguars 2013 season.Jaguars end 2013 season with a 30-10 loss in Indianapolis

Let’s size up the season:

The Good: The way the Jaguars bounced back after starting 0-8. The Jaguars returned form the bye week to win four of their next five games before losing three in a row to end the season.

The Bad: The first half of the season, clearly. Also, the way that Blaine Gabbert responded to repeated opportunities to take hold of the Jaguars starting quarterback position. Chad Henne wasn’t great, but he was good enough that the Jaguars won’t have to reach for a quarterback in the draft. They can pick a guy where he deserves to be picked.

The Ugly: The way the national media continued to ignore what was actually happening in Jacksonville with the same old boring storylines.

Offensive MVP: Marcedes Lewis

Defensive MVP: Sen’Derrick Marks

Best Rookie: Jonathan Cyprien

Quarterback Chad Henne looks for receivers in the second half of the Jaguars loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Dec. 29, 2013. Henne threw for 331 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

LISTEN: "Cole Cuts" from Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley and LB Paul Posluszny

cole_cut_pozlunzny_12-30-13.mp3

COLE CUT: Seventh-year linebacker Paul Posluszny reflects on his third year with the Jaguars and the team's future.

What's next? The Jaguars will get the third pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.

College Basketball

The University of Florida Gators won easily over Savannah State yesterday 76-34, and a milestone was reached by a Jacksonville native.

UF Men's Basketball center Patric Young became the school's 50th player to score 1,000 points in the team's win over Savannah State, Dec. 29, 2013.

Patric Young, who played his senior year at Providence, became the 50th player in Florida basketball history to score 1,000 points in a career.

Patric is a good kid and easy to root for — at 6-foot-9-inches tall and weighing 250 pounds you would be wise to root for him.

Jacksonville University begins conference play tonight against Mercer. JU had high hopes this year but did not play well in the non-conference.

The good news is that if the Dolphins win the conference tournament, they can make the big dance. We’ll start to see how they measure up in the Atlantic Sun starting tonight.

The University of North Florida opens up Atlantic Sun Conference play tonight against Kennesaw State.

You can follow Cole Pepper on Twitter @ColePepper.