Travis Hunter got his first extended chance to work at wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars during their rookie minicamp this weekend.
Unlike the rest of the 2025 draft class, he'll divert his focus to include working with the opposite side of the ball next week.
"Yeah, he'll be able to get integrated next week on the defensive side of the ball," head coach Liam Coen told reporters Saturday. "We just kind of ended up making a decision that from yesterday to today we wanted to be able to clean up some of the things that we may have been able to miss yesterday, get extra reps on the offensive side of the ball, and next week he'll start to roll on defense."
Hunter, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 国产外流网Draft, was a two-way star for Colorado at wide receiver and cornerback who intends to keep working his magic on both offense and defense for the Jags.
His star power and such rare versatility is part of what enticed Jacksonville to trade a haul of picks to move up and select him in the first place, and Hunter starting his camp focused first on offense fits with what Coen said the night the team drafted him -- that the plan for the Heisman Trophy winner was to start primarily on offense during the offseason as he learned the defensive system.
Coen said Saturday that Hunter still has been able to get a feel for what Jacksonville wants to do defensively, specifically learning some of the unit's three-deep coverages.
As for his work on offense the past two days of Jacksonville's rookie minicamp, Hunter impressed in what capacity he could given teams are still in Phase 2 of the offseason, which consists of on-field workouts but no live contact or drills that include team offense versus team defense.
Hunter put in extra work after practice, and he was also asked about his commitment to repeating reps following mistakes.
"You know, this organization expects a lot out of me," Hunter said. "They expect me to come out and play right away, so I'm going to do whatever it takes for me to get out there and play right away."
Regardless of the order of operations they've chosen, beginning primarily with the offense as defensive reps await, the best way Hunter can get acclimated is to start mastering the playbook -- a monumental task for any rookie coming from college, multiplied by Hunter's double duty.
"You've just got to get used to it," Hunter said of learning two playbooks at the 国产外流网level. "It's just a lot of different types of calls, but other than that, the defense is pretty easy. You've just got to get used to the offense."
For what it's worth, Coen has every belief Hunter will excel in that aspect in due time.
"He's obviously having to learn both sides of the ball," Coen said. "He's a football-smart guy. The game makes sense to him. And so now it's just about putting in that time, that extra time that he's going to have to do in order to be successful to play even one side of the ball at this level. So he knows what's cut out for him coming up."
The learning continues.
Hunter's rookie year is just getting started, with a deeper dive into defense on deck.
