Asher Grodman has a backstory to award-winning video: He almost broke QB Trevor Lawrence
Yes, it can now be told.
Asher Grodman almost broke a quarterback.
The director, writer and actor in the CBS comedy hit "Ghosts," has been a Jacksonville Jaguars fans since the team played its first season in 1995, when he was 8 years old and growing up in New Jersey. As the family story goes, Grodman's father was from Detroit but his mother encouraged her two sons to develop other rooting interests.
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"My mom felt that if we were raised as Lions fans, we weren't going to have any friends," he said on May 19 before playing in the 30th annual Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Celebrity Golf Classic at the TPC Sawgrass. "The cycle has to end with you."
Actor Asher Grodman (center) chats with former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jamal Agnew before the start of a game against Baltimore on Nov. 27, 2022, at EverBank Field.
Given his choice, young Asher was so enamored of the Jaguars logo and colors, that he latched onto the expansion franchise. And years later the Jaguars enlisted his support in writing and producing the team's 2023 schedule reveal video, "It Is Written," which portrayed the season as a 17-part TV series, with Jaguars' players and coaches acting out scripts written by Grodman and the Jaguars "writing staff."
Produced in conjunction with the Jaguars Creative Media and Digital and Social Media teams, the video won four major awards, including two for Grodman as a content creator, one from the Cannes International Festival of Creativity for Best Use of Humor in Film and two "Webby Awards."
But it almost came at a cost.
Trevor Lawrence gets 'slammed'
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence makes several appearances in the video, including one where he tries to walk into a meeting of the "writing team," led by Grodman.
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In a voice-over, Grodman explains, "Players aren't even allowed in the writing room," and in the scene, slams the door in Lawrence's face.
Grodman tells what happened next.
"I explained to him that you'll stand here and I'll just run over and slam the door," Grodman said. "So we did it and it was funny but I thought it could be funnier if we just slam the door a little faster. So we set it up again, I slam the door a little faster and get some chuckles."
But after the second take (which was the one used), Grodman opened the door, and Lawrence was gone.
"I only had him for a half-hour and I'm a little concerned," Grodman said. "I look in the hallway and there he is."
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Yeah, there Lawrence is ... with his head tipped back and holding his hand over his nose and forehead.
A behind-the-scenes image of head coach Doug Pederson (left) and actor Asher Grodman (right) during the filming of the Jacksonville Jaguars 2023 schedule release video on Thursday, April 20, 2023 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville.
'I may have broken everything'
The immediate thought was a gut-wrencher: Grodman had injured Lawrence a month before the 2023 OTAs.
"Oh, God ... I slammed the door in his face," Grodman said.
But Lawrence reassured him he was okay.
"No concussion," Grodman said.
Instead, Lawrence got philosophical.
"He said something along the lines of 'pain is growth,'" Grodman said.
Asher Grodman loves Jaguars' off-season moves
Grodman was bubbling over with enthusiasm like any Jaguars fan about the team's off-season moves, such as hiring Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Boselli as the team's Executive Vice-President of Football Operations, Liam Coen as the coach and making the bold move on draft day to land two-way star Travis Hunter.
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"I don't think there's a better representative for the team," he said of Boselli. "Something that has always kind of blown me away is how this wildly successful guy, Hall Fame, started his own businesses and yet he is endlessly curious and looking to learn more and more. That's the guy you want running an organization, and the organization means so much to him. He's been a voice for the fans for so long [as a broadcaster] that he is very plugged in ... he understands the audience."
Grodman said he met Coen for the first time at the Jay Fund banquet on the eve of the golf tournament and was impressed with how Coen was interacting with fans.
"He was one of the last people to leave," Grodman said. "And it's not just, 'hi, how are you?' He is really engaging with each person. He's a charismatic and bright guy and I'm thrilled he's here."
Asher Grodman loves the team's boldness
"Incredible," he said of the Jaguars' trading two first-round draft picks as the big bait for wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. "For years we have played this numbers game ... let's get as many draft picks and players and hope something hits. It's a competitive league and you want to take your shots and be bold.
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"I don't know how [Hunter] is going to turn out but I imagine it's going to turn out pretty well, but from a leadership standpoint, that's what you want. To steal from the Jaguars media department, you want to go out and hunt. I'm glad we're hunting."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How Jacksonville Jaguars fan Asher Grodman nearly hurt Trevor Lawrence
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