Blaine Gabbert Jacksonville Jaguars 2011 NFL Draft Pick Interview

Blaine Gabbert's the number one pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he could not be happier. When I finally met the former Missouri Quarterback, it was easy to tell he'd got the message that Cam Newton, and not he, would be the 1st pick of the 2011 NFL Draft. But he together with Aldon Smith, the defensive end drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, mark the first time in that school's history, two Missouri players were picked in the first round of The NFL Draft.

And, Gabbert, who's friend Christian Ponder calls "Sunshine," and who was drafted ahead of him and to the Minnesota Vikings, handled the whole deal very well. The best way to get Gabbert away from thinking about what bothers him? Talk about fishing. It puts a smile on his face: "I spend a lot of time out there. You just gotta do it."

He also enjoyed New York City during the NFL Draft, and said it was his first time. According to a photo from his own Twitter account, Gabbert had a great view in a corner room high over Manhattan in the New York W Hotel.

Gabbert also met EPIN College Football Reporter Erin Andrews, and took in a lot of meetings, from breakfast with Gatorade reps, to easting with "high level" New York City public officials (reads like the Mayor). In all, Gabbert had a great intro to the NFL.

Now, with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Gabbert goes into a system not unlike the one he played in at Missouri. The Jaguars used the spread about 40 percent of the time in 2010, even with the presence of star running back Maurice Jones-Drew. He's also paired with Mike Shula as his quarterbacks coach, who worked with current starter David Gerrard.

And now comes the controversy, all over again.

Gabbert now finds himself in the middle of another quarterback controversy, and not with Cam Newton, but one that strangely involves yet another black quarterback, Dave Gerrard. (You know Blaine's got to wonder what the deal is with this situation.)

This week, Maurice Jones-Drew was on Sirius Satellite Radio to talk about Blaine Gabbert, and said "David [Garrard] is still our quarterback, he's a great guy but we know Blaine is going to come in and fight hard for it and he's going to push David."

Then, former Oakland Raiders Quarterback Rick Gannon asked if Jones-Drew was surprised that the Jaguars would draft another quarterback. Maurice said "Well, I think once they saw him fall, he was, obviously, early on he was the number one player to come off the board and for him to fall to ten, I guess they wanted to get the best player available. Still, like I said before, David's our guy and he's always going to be our guy. I mean, since I've been there that's all I know and that's who I played with from the beginning. When I was a backup and he was the backup we played together, we have a bond. So I know David will fight through it. It's going to be tough at first. It's always tough when they draft at your position but David's a strong guy, strong minded. He'll be able to go out there, fight through it and we'll win games."

For for Jones-Drew, having a guy like Gabbert in their pushing Garrard is a good situation for them. But what Blaine has to do, is sit and learn, and fit in. That's the best way to handle his situation. Let's see how he does with it, but I think he will be fine.