PALM COAST – The veterans' offseason program is over, with training camp weeks away.
But if Jaguars Head Coach Gus Bradley wasn't exactly working Monday night, neither was he taking it easy. Instead, he and defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, kicker Josh Scobee and punter Bryan Anger traveled to Palm Coast as part of the Jaguars Stand United 2013 Caravan.
All three spoke to the audience at Flagler Palm Coast High School, and Bradley – in his first season as the Jaguars' head coach – called the event an important connection for fans and team.
"It's great," Bradley said. "I think anytime you can go out and touch the people that are so important to you as an organization, it's critical.
"Anytime you can get out and touch the community, it's a great thing. It's one of our responsibilities and something we really enjoy doing."
Bradley, Scobee, Alualu, Anger and members of the ROAR were introduced to the crowd by former Jaguars All-Pro left tackle and Pride of the Jaguars member Tony Boselli.
"We're getting to engage the fans," Boselli said. "This is a chance for us to get to areas outside our five-county area. That's our core fan base, but we also want to expand. That's important to us, and these events are a way to do that."
Said Alualu, "It's great to meet the fans and show our appreciation for them – show that we care. They come out and support us. Sometimes, you expect it, but sometimes you're amazed by the people we get to meet and the fans that have been here since Day One, since the Jaguars came.
"That's always a great thing for us to experience."
Bradley, Scobee, Alualu, Anger and the members of the ROAR also signed autographs for more than an hour, as did Boselli. Jaxson de Ville also entertained at the event, with Bradley speaking to the crowd for several minutes upon his arrival.
"We've got a real simple mentality," Bradley said. "I just felt like in the NFL, in my time with the Buccaneers and the Seahawks, there are a lot of distractions in the NFL. All of us have distractions in life, but it was our objective to try to eliminate as many of those distractions as we could so we could get guys to just play ball, to just play football.
"That's what we're trying to get done here. We want something that you're really proud of, where the organization is guys where you look out there on Sunday and say, 'That's a team I'm proud of. They represent what we're all about one hundred percent.'
"That's what we're going to get accomplished here by getting better every day."
Scobee said that whenever he speaks at an event, he is struck by the enthusiasm of fans in and out of Jacksonville.
"It's great," Scobee said. "The enthusiasm the fans have, even outside Jacksonville, for the Jaguars – it's there. That makes it that much more important for us to put a good product on the field – so that they can be excited for the right reasons.
"It's fun to be a part of this and see fans everywhere – even an hour away in Palm Coast."
The caravan continues Tuesday at the Governor's Square Mall (1500 Apalachee Parkway) in Tallahassee from 6-8 p.m., with stops also scheduled this week in Gainesville Wednesday (Oaks Mall, 6419 Newberry Road, 6-8 p.m.; Savannah, Ga., Thursday (Charles H. Morris Center, 10 E. Broad St., 6-8 p.m.) and Brunswick, Ga., Saturday (Glynn Place Mall, 200 Mall Blvd., 12-2 p.m.).
