11/4/2020 football Edit

Jake Luton To Start In Jacksonville

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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Former Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton will get his oppurtunity to show what he can do in the NFL as the Jacksonville Jaguars announced he'll get the start this Sunday against Houston.

The 6-foot-6, 224-pounder was a sixth round pick (189 overall) of the Jags in the 2020 NFL and entered the season fighting for the backup job behind Gardner Minshew II with veteran Mike Glennon.

While Minshew II was the Jags' starting quarterback for the first seven games of the season, Glennon served as the primary backup while Luton was inactive.

However, it was revealed during the Jags' bye week that Minshew II had been playing through torn ligaments in his thumb that he suffered several weeks prior. The former Washington State QB tried to play through it, but he wasn't as effective, leading head coach Doug Marrone to ponder his choices after the bye.

With Jacksonville sitting at 1-6 after its bye week and Minshew needing time to heal, Marrone figured that he had already seen what he needed to see from Glennon and wanted to give the rookie a chance to show what he can do.

"We might as well look," Marrone said. "We might as well see what we have. Go ahead and play him, and let's go."

Luton, who's coming off a senior season at Oregon State that saw him throw for 2,714 yards and 28 touchdowns with only three interceptions, has been a pleasant surprise for the organization since draft day and they're itching to see if he'll be able to provide a similar spark that Minshew II gave them last season.

"I think Jake has a high ceiling. That's my opinion of him. Not to take anything away from Mike. I have a ton of respect for him. I just want to see where this kid (Luton) is at. … I've watched him enough. Now, it's going to be when the bullets are flying."

Given that the Jags' season is on the cusp of getting ugly if it hasn't already, Luton should get ample oppurtunity to show his strengths. He also gets the benefit of a good matchiup to start the season as the Texans are allowing the third-most yards per game (417.6) to opposing offenses.