Jacksonville Jaguars rookie WR Brian Thomas Jr. is carrying LSU legacy to the NFL

For Jacksonville Jaguars rookie first-round wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. , he’s able to carry a collegiate legacy with him into his professional life.

After originally wanting his college jersey No. 11—worn by Parker Washington—and being given No. 80, Thomas will sport No. 7 for the Jaguars.

That specific jersey number holds importance for Louisiana State University players, typically signifying the team’s playmaker.

He’s hoping to be that for the Jaguars as he works his way through the first NFL training camp of his career.

“Being able to get the number seven, knowing what it means even at LSU. It has been a blessing,” Thomas said. “Just to be able to get that number and go out there and represent the way I should.”

The expectations will be high for Thomas this year. He led Division I with 17 touchdown catches last season for the Tigers and is the first early-round receiver drafted by the Jaguars in Trevor Lawrence’s career.

His size, speed and talent presents the first-of-its-kind player for Lawrence, who Thomas says he’s already developing a relationship with.

“He's been a great leader, just teaching me like how he likes certain routes ran. Just being able to talk to him and go to him and say how I like things [or] how I see things,” he said of Lawrence. “Just being able to have that communication level and that relationship. Being able to talk through things, I would say has been great.”

The expectations levied onto Thomas won’t exceed those placed onto himself, though. Teammates and coaches alike have talked about how focused the first rounder has been and how intelligent he is.

“[Thomas] is super smart. Super smart. Super locked in,” tight end Evan Engram said on Friday. “I don’t think I’ve seen him have a [mental error] once since he’s been here. That just tells a lot about his mentality and the future is really bright for him.”

“He's handled things really well,” added offensive coordinator Press Taylor. “He has retained a lot of the information that we taught through the summer, through the offseason, carried it over very well.”

The first week of camp hasn’t exactly been the eye-popping, highlight filled practices that came with Calvin Ridley last season. In fact, it’s been marred by turnovers from Jacksonville’s offense and relative quietness from Thomas.

Some of it is standout days from Jacksonville’s defense, some of it is the offense focusing on instillation instead of scheming looks.

But it hasn’t deterred Thomas from his pursuit of being the best and his mindset of being better every day—a mentality he picked up in college, at LSU.

“I want to be the best at this. This is what I want to do,” he said. “You got to take this seriously. This is my job now; it has always been my job. I feel like you got to put your all into it. You got to do what it takes to be the best.”

Devin Lloyd gives insight into the defensive ‘attention to detail’

Jacksonville’s defense looks completely different through the first week of camp. It’s the first time we’ve seen Ryan Nielsen’s scheme at hand, and it’s given camp-goers a chance to see just how tenacious his style is.

They’ve intercepted five passes by Trevor Lawrence in team drills and have been disruptive at the line of scrimmage. Part of it is the freedom given to players due to the man-heavy nature of Nielsen’s system.

Linebacker Devin Lloyd talked with media about the strong start on Saturday.

“I think after assessing the first four days on the field, I would say I'm pleased,” he said. “There's always room for improvement, but guys have been really communicating at a high level, flying around with a lot of effort, and capitalizing on the turnovers. The big plays that we need to get the ball back to offense and playing sound defense.”

A phrase that’s routinely come up this week has been “attention to detail” when players are talking about the difference this year.

Pass rusher Josh Allen spoke earlier this week about how the team conducts individual drills from the start of practice until the team portion of camp.

Safety Andre Cisco told News4Jax’s Jamal St. Cyr the team’s preparation has been “very much attention to detail” and said it’s already translating to the field with players getting takeaways.

For Lloyd, it’s about the communication. Making sure everybody is getting the same play call and everybody is lockstep as the defense continues to excel in camp.

“Every call has so many intricate details and making sure that there's no gray area. Making sure we don't see it one way and a safety sees it another way,” he said. “Everybody's on the same page. Communication is at a high level, and it's complex but simple. It's relatively simple.”

Ronald Darby stands out during the first week of camp

Through the first week of camp, it appears that Ronald Darby has a leg up in the starting cornerback competition.

It should be reiterated that Ryan Nielsen and company aren’t using a depth chart currently, but it’s hard to deny the impact the veteran cornerback has made so far.

He intercepted two of Lawrence’s passes this week including a one-on-one rep against Thomas on Friday. After a relatively quiet offseason, Darby has looked right at home opposite of Tyson Campbell.

“You’ve got a young dude over there that’s going to go out there and work hard and help push you,” he said of Campbell during an interview posted to 1010XL's YouTube channel. “And he loves to learn. He always comes up asking questions, asking how you do certain things and vice versa.”

With players like Buster Brown, Jarrian Jones and De’Antre Prince in and the lack of a depth chart, it’ll be worth watching to see if Darby keeps the strong start going.

Juston Lewis is a Jacksonville Jaguars beat reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on the website formerly known as Twitter at @JustonLewis_ .

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars rookie WR Brian Thomas Jr. is carrying LSU legacy to the NFL