JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As NFL rookies go, Travis Hunter is two of a kind.
The third practice of Jacksonville Jaguars training camp was Hunter’s first as a cornerback, having worn a teal jersey as a receiver for the first two days of camp before swapping it out for a white defensive jersey. Playing on both sides of the ball is nothing new for Hunter, who did so in college for three years at Jackson State and Colorado, but he’s still completely unique in learning two NFL playbooks simultaneously.
“It’s super organized,” Hunter said after practice on a sunny Friday morning. “Coach goes over it pretty much every week, and I get a piece of paper to keep in my locker so I know exactly where I’ve got to be and what I need to do.”
At Colorado, on the way to winning a Heisman Trophy last season, Hunter typically practiced on both sides of the ball every day. The Jaguars, with more complicated schemes, have him on a different schedule, opening camp with a focus on one side of the ball each day in practice, building up to where he can eventually handle some of both in the same session.
“It’s weird. It’s probably harder logistically for us as coaches to navigate it and make sure we’re making use of all of his time,” first-year Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “It doesn’t bother him as much. He’s pretty unfazed by some of the stuff. … He’s been great in terms of his attitude and just the way he approaches it.”
Travis Hunter spent his first two days of Jaguars training camp catching passes from Trevor Lawrence at wide receiver. (Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
The Jaguars boldly traded two first-round picks and a second to move up to No. 2 overall and draft Hunter in April, with a plan to feature him on both sides of the ball. He had 96 catches and 15 touchdowns as a receiver last season, and his initial full-time role will likely be on offense, joining second-year pro Brian Thomas Jr. as dynamic targets for quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Hunter rotated in with the second-unit defense Friday and might be used more sparingly on defense at first, in key situations like third downs or red-zone defense.
Already in the first week of camp, the Jaguars have been able to experience two different identities — one with Hunter as part of a loaded passing game on offense, another with him contributing on defense — and get a feel for the energy he brings to their team.
“You definitely feel it a little,” Coen said. “Because we’re offensively, just by nature, maybe a little bit more of a quieter group, just in general. So when he is over there, it’s just a little more … I don’t want to call it life. … It’s just he does have a little bit of vibe around him, so it does create that on offense, brings a little bit of juice, for sure.”
Hunter was literally juggling Friday before practice, as he stood in a triangle on the sideline with Thomas and receiver Dyami Brown, tossing multiple tennis balls between them to work on hand-eye coordination. Hunter is building bonds on both sides of the ball, celebrating with his fellow receivers in one practice and jawing with them as he covers them on routes downfield the next. That chemistry, and finding a way to fit in with both units at the same time, is a crucial part of his NFL challenge.
In a sign of symbolism, Hunter juggled tennis balls with Jaguars wide receivers at Friday’s practice as he worked with the cornerbacks. (Photo by Greg Auman)
“It’s super important,” Hunter said. “There’s a lot of people that you can’t talk any type of way to, so you have to feel each other out, you have to understand who you’re talking to.”
Hunter said he doesn’t have to get in earlier or stay later than other rookies, but his day is packed with a careful schedule of meetings and work to prepare him at both positions without overwhelming him. His physical conditioning was clear from three years of double-shifts in college football, and he said the bigger challenge right now is the mental one, processing plays from two different perspectives, each with their own terminology.
Hunter just turned 22 in May, so he’s leaning on any teammates with experience and wisdom to help him learn the game quickly. He called 29-year-old corner Jourdan Lewis an “old head” for how much he’s shared with him on defense, and he’s put in extra time away from the team facility to build rapport with Lawrence, who is only 25, but entering his fifth NFL season.
Hunter is living dual lives right now, sometimes a cornerback, sometimes a receiver, and much of his rookie success will hinge on how well those two paths can weave together to form one rare player, capable of changing the game on any single snap. For now, that means being able to flip a switch, seeing the field from one side or the other, knowing he’ll need both at the same time soon.
“It’s definitely a flip,” Hunter said of his two perspectives. “It’s a switch that you have to flip, because the terms are different for different plays. Different formations have the defense calling different things from the offense in a meeting room, but yes, when I hit the field, it’s all the same to me and I just go to work.”
This is a challenge he’s embraced for years, with no recent precedent for an NFL player contributing on both sides of the ball at the level Hunter will have the chance to do. The next six weeks, building up to his pro debut, are not one crash course but two, but he also knows that understanding one side of the ball can help him thrive on the other, and vice versa.
“I need to be able to process everything fast,” he said. “I have to know what I’m doing right away. So I have to get adjusted so I know where I need to be on one side of the ball each day. And then it will all come together.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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