JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Travis Hunter will make his defensive debut for the Jacksonville Jaguars next week.
Coach Liam Coen reported that Hunter has been studying both offensive and defensive playbooks. However, they decided that he would only participate in pass catching during the Jaguars’ two-day rookie camp, which concluded on Saturday.
The team will give him his first defensive repetitions during the last week of Phase II of the offseason conditioning program.
“We decided that, from yesterday to today, we wanted to clean up some things that we may have overlooked yesterday and get extra reps on the offensive side of the ball, and next week he’ll start participating on defense,” Coen said after the approximately 90-minute practice.
Liam Coen
The Jaguars’ plan for Hunter, who played as a receiver and cornerback in college at Jackson State and Colorado, was for him to start on offense, as it is a more complex system to learn, and then to play on defense as he became more comfortable. However, Hunter has already begun studying the defensive playbook.
“You just have to get used to it,” Hunter said. “It has a lot of different calls, but other than that, the defense is pretty easy. You have to get used to the offense.”
Travis Hunter
Coen mentioned that Hunter has already learned some of the coverages, despite not having dedicated as much time to the defensive playbook as to the offensive one.
“He’s been able to dive in and learn some of our three-deep coverages, what we call our three-deep coverages on the outside, if he has to be tagged on the back end of a three-by-one, you know all those calls,” Coen said. “So, at the end of the day, it’s going to be, on the defensive side of the ball, communication. Technique and fundamentals, we’ll continue to harp on those, but it’s really about being on the same page as the rest of the guys on the back end from a communication standpoint and the rest will take care of itself.”
Liam Coen
Hunter, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, played 1,481 plays and had 1,258 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, along with four interceptions on defense last season at Colorado. He averaged 113.9 plays per game.
The Jaguars traded with the Cleveland Browns to move up three spots to number 2 and select Hunter.
