As the Jacksonville Sharks begin their season, the Jaguars are weighing the options as some key offensive players are about to become free agents. Cole Pepper gave us the scoop in his weekly sports wrap.
Jacksonville Sharks football about to start, Suns baseball not too far off
The season is about to begin for the Jacksonville Sharks. Yesterday at the Arena, the Sharks held a preseason scrimmage against Tampa Bay and came away with a 42-35 victory.
The Sharks open the season two weeks from yesterday. In attendance at the game was Justin Blackmon, who was watching a college teammate of his who is trying to make the Sharks team.
Blackmon still doesn’t know if he’ll be reinstated by the NFL after his suspension last year.
In fact, Blackmon told me that he doesn’t know when he’ll hear from the league. When and if the Jaguars hear form the league will be a big part of their off-season plans.
A little further down the line, the Jacksonville Suns are exactly one month from opening day at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
Jaguars potential off-season moves
Speaking of the Jaguars, they have a little more time until free agency begins, a week from tomorrow. Let’s talk about two players and what the Jaguars may do with them: Maurice Jones-Drew and Chad Henne.
GM Dave Caldwell said at the end of the season that they wanted to re-sign Henne, and I think they’ll likely do that before free agency begins. Jones-Drew is another story.
The Jaguars are gong to let him test the market. This is going to be an interesting thing. On one hand, you figure that Jones-Drew has seen his best days. He has taken a lot of punishment with his running style. I don’t think he’s worthy of #1 running back money, but he can still play a valuable role for a team.
Maybe for the Jaguars. I suspect that if someone offers him #1 RB money, he’ll sign there. If he gets something less than that, the Jaguars may match it.
Jacksonville University represented on the PGA Tour
JU alum and Jacksonville Beach resident Russell Knox nearly got his first PGA Tour victory.
He and three other golfers went to sudden death at the Honda Classic in South Florida. Knox couldn’t get the birdie and Russell Henley got the win.
Tiger Woods walked of the course yesterday after 13 holes with back pain. Keep an eye on Knox, though, he had a terrific year on the Web.com tour last year, and played in 8 PGA Tour events, finishing as high as 13th. He’s finished in the top 13 three times in five PGA Tour events in 2014.
Jax college hoops
Tomorrow begins the Atlantic Sun conference basketball tournament. JU has the task of starting with the conference co-champions, Mercer, who beat the Dolphins just Saturday.
UNF travels to USC-Upstate. Both JU and UNF have the task of having to win not only as underdogs, but on the road at the higher seeded teams.
You can follow Melissa Ross on Twitter @MelissainJax and Cole Pepper @ColePepper.
