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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Jaguars Wide Receiver DJ Chark Jr.: Wednesday, November 11, 2020

(On the challenge of taking on the Green Bay Packers this weekend) "Just to do our jobs individually. Big thing for us is to have accountability and dominate our matchup. It's not going to necessarily be easy matchups. They have some of the best players in the league. They're one of the best teams in the league. But at the end of the day, when we put our pads on, it's an expectation so I hold myself to that standard, I hold my teammates to that standard, and I hope that they can hold me to that standard too."

(On his big performance last week and continuing to play at that level the second half of the season) "Personally, I just take the same approach every week, just to make sure I run the best routes possible, when I have the opportunity to catch the ball, catch the ball, make sure I'm running the right routes, make sure I'm doing the right assignments and the rest is going to take care of itself. I feel like I do that every week, so whatever the numbers may be after the game, it's what they are. As long as I can go back and look at film and say I ran this route hard, I got open, I saw the defense before I ran this route and made the right adjustment, then I sleep well at night."

(On if he knew his catch on the first drive would be a touchdown) "I felt pretty confident. One thing I can say about their safety, 32, [Lonnie Johnson Jr.] is he's sideline to sideline; he shows good speed. After that play, wherever I'm at, he shaded to that side of the field. Plays where I thought if I make one guy miss, it's a touchdown, a lot of times he was that one guy, he made that play. So, I give him that, but on that, I never really had too much concern about scoring a touchdown on that one."

(On when he knew QB Jake Luton could throw the deep ball) "Honestly, the first time I really caught for him was last week, that week coming into the game. A lot of times I made sure I got my reps with Gardner [Minshew II] so that we had that timing. Because he takes a lot of the reps on scout team, I would ask the receivers who were on scout team what's he strengths and weaknesses. Then once we started working together, we were able to make our adjustments on the fly."

(On his frustration this season) "I have pretty high goals for myself, goals that I usually don't speak on, but I hold myself to those standards. So, any frustration that the outside may see, it's because of my goals and the way that I want things to happen, not necessarily based on anyone else or the team or anything. It's really an internal battle for myself and so even on good games, like the last game, I felt like I did well, but if I had to grade myself it definitely wasn't 100 percent and I definitely feel like I could've done better. That's something that my wife talked to me about, just basically I can't put too much pressure on shoulders but I feel like if I want to be great, that's the expectations that I have to reach. It's really just me versus me. It's not necessarily anything someone else is doing."

(On his outlook on the future following the Presidential Election) "Honestly, I feel like there's a lot of work to do. I feel like the country, I can't necessarily [say is] headed in the right direction because we have to see what happens, but hopefully sometimes change is good. The last four years have been tough, but even before then we had some tough times. The biggest thing about this election was the amount of people who registered to vote, not necessarily about who won, who lost. It just showed that people cared about making change and I think that's the biggest thing that I can take from it is that people were actively putting forth the effort to go out and make a change, whether their change is for Democrats, Republicans. They still took the time to register to vote, took the time to go and vote and I think that's the biggest thing. I think if we can continue to move forward and people be more active in trying to be the change that they want to see, I think the younger generation sees this and so the next four years, whoever the candidates may be have an even larger number of people who go out to vote. I feel like that's when you start getting more democracy. "

(On going against Packers CB Jaire Alexander) "I love it. I watch every corner I play. I understand the role that I'm in. I understand that, for the most part, the best corner's going to follow me. Sometimes depending on scheme, they'll stay right and left. But he's very athletic. He has a dog [mentality], you see that. When he makes a play, he celebrates, which is the type of matchups I like. I never shy away from a competition. In college, I was going against [former LSU teammates] Tre'Davious White, Jamal Adams, Donte Jackson to come here and go against [former Jaguars] A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey, so I take this as a chance to learn. I'm excited. I'm excited to see what plans they have. Do they have any wrinkles? Do shade the safety? Do they just let them be on the island? However, it may be, I have confidence in [Offensive Coordinator] Coach Gruden in putting me in the best positions and I just have to go out there and execute."

(On if he remembers playing against CB Jaire Alexander in college) "I remember that ball game. I can't necessarily say if he played or not. I wasn't the biggest on scouting reports in college, something that I wish I was. Yeah, I can't necessarily say that I remember playing against him then, but I definitely will remember this time."

(On voting for the first time, finding out the gender of his baby, and getting married all during the bye week) "I feel like honestly the growing took place way before then. I think the growing in my life really started before last year after my rookie year, just not being happy with what I saw out of myself on the field, off the field, just things that needed changing. I credit my now wife for helping me throughout all that, that process. With that growth, for me, it was basically just being a man, making the right decisions, and standing on my word. So, whatever I say, whatever I do, whatever consequences or cause and effect, whatever you may say, I have to live with that. I have to go every day with that, so I'd rather put my best foot forward so whatever trickles down from that, it'll be more manageable."

(On being a newlywed and a father-to-be) "It's great. One thing I can say, she [his wife, Chantelle Deanna Yukari Chark] made this process way easier for me. I hear a lot of guys talk about how things change when they get married but I've been knowing her for six, seven years and I can honestly say she's my best friend. She keeps it real with me no matter what. To have a girl on the way is… I wanted a girl because I felt like a boy, I can raise him, tell him the things that I did growing up, but a girl's just a different side. I want to be able to be a great father figure in a strong woman's life and help her grow up and make a difference in this world. So, that's the biggest thing for me, I feel like that's the challenge. I've done it as a man, feel like I've made a difference in a lot of people's live, but I definitely want to be able to help a young lady grow up to be a great woman in this world."

(On if his touchdown catch was a scripted play to get him more involved) "Yeah. Honestly, [Offensive Coordinator] Coach Gruden had a lot of big time down the field plays. Obviously, the way the game plans works, you can only call them in certain points, but he was definitely trying to get them off the script. He came up with a great plan to inside release then get back outside. Usually if I have a corner press, I'm taking the outside release, so that's a new wrinkle added to my game brought by Coach Gruden and was able to execute."

(On if this weekend will be the coldest game he's played in) "Probably. I know LSU played Notre Dame [in the] Music City Bowl [in] Tennessee freshman year maybe and that was really cold. Tennessee in January is really cold. I'm not a fan of the cold, but it is what it is. We're going out there, putting our pads on, hoping they have a few jackets on the side and we'll make something shake. I mean, they have to play in it too. [They] may be more used to it, but at the end of the day everybody on that team isn't from Green Bay, so they have to deal with it as well, so it is what it is."

(On how many guests attended his wedding) "We could've had 20, but we had none. It was just me and her."

(On not having family or friends attend his wedding) "Actually we wanted it that way. It felt more intimate. It was me and her. Honestly, we do a lot of things on our own and try not to broadcast it. We like to keep people included but a lot of our big decisions, we try to do just me and her, so this was perfect. We still plan on having a wedding ceremony post COVID where her dad can walk her down the aisle and everybody can come, and we can enjoy it and fellowship and have fun. But I feel like that was the best way to get married, just me, her, Amelia Island, bye week. I still had to drive up to the stadium every day to get my nose swabbed, but I felt like that's the best way I could've done it."

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