JACKSONVILLE - Oakleaf High School's Shaquille Quarterman has already made the impression he has made on the field and off the field as a rookie draft choice of the Jacksonville Jaguars football.

“I like him," said Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone "You put on the tape and watch him and he’s going around making plays. He’s a guy that really loves football."

In Monday's practice, the first padded for the Jaguars, Quarterman got a quick comment from defensive coach on a read during a scrimmage drill.

"Way to go 50, way to be disciplined while taking a peek in there," said Wash, with a coy smile to his rookie linebacker.

Wash later commented on Quarterman in a post-session press conference giving him high marks for football intelligence.

"If you look at our division, it is a very strong running division," said Wash. "We wanted to get guys with a very high football IQ and, talking about Shaq and Nate (Nate Evans, rookie UCF), both of them are very intelligent and have done a nice job of picking up schemes. We know they are going to bust, but, with both guys, that bust only happens once."

One comment Marrone recalled about Quarterman was a conversation with his linebacker where Quarterman shared his own thoughts.

"‘Coach, I’m just telling you now when my cleats are on the grass, I will do whatever you want me to do. I’m going to play," recalled Marrone of the conversation. "Those are the kind of things you feel good about. Now they’ve got to go out and earn it."

Also, this week, the Jaguars added more hometown love to their roster with the recent signing of former Columbia Lake City defensive tackle Tim Jernigan.

Jernigan, a second round pick out of Florida State University by the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, got signed from the Philadelphia Eagles where he played the last three seasons.

It was, for the Jaguars, a move to solidify a defensive tackle position hit hard during 2020 Training Camp by illness, injury and COVID-19 optouts, plus the departure to the Ravens of All-Pro Calais Campbell, but the signing was personal for Jernigan, who attended Justina Elementary School in Jacksonville before graduating from Columbia High School.

"It damn sure feels good to be home," he said via videoconference shortly after the Jaguars' 90-minute practice Monday morning at the Dream Finders Homes Practice Complex.

Jernigan joins Quarterman as two local products on the Jaguars roster and has already brought a little fire to the Jaguars defensive attack.

Defensive coach Todd Wash noted that the linebacker depth has been good sign amidst the breakdown of the defensive line. The Jaguars signed free agent middle linebacker Joe Schobert from Cleveland to put former middle backer Myles Jack on the weak side with Quarterman learning the middle, where he was an All-ACC first teamer with the University of Miami and K'Lavon Chaisson, a first round pick fighting for a possible fourth spot.

Early on, the Jaguars are projected to have solid starts from Schobert and Jack with Chaisson and Carrius Marsh (a free agent from Arizona Cardinals) battling for the third spot and Quarterman on a list of six vying for backup slots.

"I think we're going to have some solid depth at the linebacker position," Wash said. "It was very important this offseason that we go out and get football players that are very intelligent. That's one thing we've got with this group, top to bottom."

In a Friday practice session last week, Quarterman, who has been marked as a special teams athlete while learning the ropes of NFL linebacker, got a high-five from defensive coach Todd Wash after making a read during team drills against the first string offense led by quarterback Gardner Minshew.

The Jaguars had their first padded session on Mon., Aug. 17 with Jaguars coaching Doug Marrone seeing an uptick in the team's play.

"Everything's a ramping-up type period," Marrone said. "We want to get used to it. We don't want to see people on the ground. We don't want to be leaving our feet."