Rookie’s double duty in practice increasing.
“I’m going to eat, take a shower, and go back to work,” Hunter told USA TODAY Sports, pausing for a few minutes during his lunch break on Tuesday.
Talk about time management. After taking snaps on both offense and defense during the Jacksonville Jaguars training camp practice – the first session this summer that he went both ways – Hunter joined the wide receivers group for an autograph session with dozens of fans on hand at Miller Electric Center.
And the rest of the day?
“I’ll have 45 minutes with the defense,” he said of a pending meeting. “Back to offense from 2:05 to 4:35. Then walk-throughs.”
He caught himself and recalibrated.
“Actually, I’ve got defensive walk-through today from 4:35 to 5:50. Then we’re out. Then tomorrow, I’ll be on defense.”
As he recited his schedule, Hunter, 22, was full of youthful exuberance and charisma − as advertised. Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy last year as college football’s best player, is so driven to prove that he can excel while playing receiver and cornerback on the NFL level. And the desire seems palatable as he flashes a huge grin.
Then again, for all of his accomplishments, there’s some down-to-earth humility.
“I’ve had a lot of progress,” Hunter said. “But now I’ve got to continue to prove myself and prove that I’m supposed to be here.”
No, this two-way duty hasn’t been done in the NFL in decades. But when Hunter joined forces with Deion Sanders – first at Jackson State, then Colorado – the conventional wisdom was that he couldn’t hold up going both ways on the college level. Coach Prime was the only coach who pledged to let him try.
And look at him now. The Jaguars sent a bundle of draft picks to the Cleveland Browns to select the best athlete in the NFL draft with the second pick overall and made the “organizational decision,” as coach Liam Coen put it, to use Hunter both ways.
Sure, there’s a huge challenge for Hunter – who makes his NFL preseason debut against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night — to hold up physically against better athletes for a longer season in the NFL. Yet Hunter is quick to emphasize the mental game, which will enable him to absorb nuances of sophisticated NFL game plans.
“We’ve got a schedule set up and I’ll get it before the week even starts,” he said. “By the end of the week, I’ll have another schedule for next week.”
Is this how it worked at Colorado?
“In Colorado, I met with both (units) every day, so I was good,” he replied.
Coen, the Jaguars rookie head coach, is adjusting to this flow in his own right. He said there’s been trial and error – “more reps here, less reps there,” Coen said – to balance the workload.
“It’s what he’s been doing, whereas for us coaches and staff, it’s new and different,” Coen told USA TODAY Sports. “To find that sweet spot of how much is too much and what’s not enough, it’s a revolving door.
Coen texted Hunter on Monday night and told him of the plan to give him snaps on both sides of the ball on Tuesday for the first time during a practice.
“He’s like, ‘Alright, finally, dude,” Coen said of the response.
During one series in Tuesday’s practice, Hunter, wearing a teal No. 12 jersey, zipped inside on a skinny post route and snagged a tight spiral. The next series, Hunter wore a white, No. 12 pinnie over his jersey for a shift on defense where he blanketed his assigned receiver with tight man-to-man coverage.
Near the end of practice, Coen kept Hunter out of the final 11-on-11 drill, but it was surely a full load. According to The Florida Times-Union, Hunter went 19 plays (10 on offense, 9 on defense) in the team drills, testing the high level of conditioning that is his calling card.
“The last time I got tired, tired?” Hunter said, repeating the question. “Probably today. It was a lot on me, but I got through the day and did what I was supposed to do. For the most part, I was good.”
From this point, Coen expects the double-duty during practices will become the norm rather than the exception. Since the offseason workouts, Coen has been particularly impressed with Hunter’s learning curve in absorbing the nuances of the offense.
“Corner is probably a lot more natural for him to just go and play,” Coen said. “It’s probably where he’s had the most development in his college experiences. Well, he’s worked his tail off this summer, working on the receiver fundamentals and techniques, and it’s showed up.”
When the Jaguars released their first official depth chart this week, Hunter was listed as a starting receiver alongside Brian Thomas, Jr. and Dyami Brown, and as the backup left cornerback behind Jarrian Jones. Of course, that’s subject to change. Yet Coen projects that when the games count Hunter could play 80% of the snaps – on both offense and defense, which would be in the range of the 111 snaps he averaged last season at Colorado.
“But we’ve got to train him,” Coen added. “It’s a long season.”
Coen, inheriting a team that finished 4-13 in 2024, also hasn’t been shy about his expectations of excellence. Earlier this week, Coen said he thinks that Hunter could win honors as NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
“I didn’t hear that, but I’m happy he said that because I know I can be,” Hunter said. “I’ve just got to continue to prove myself.”
The debates could go on and on. Cornerback or receiver?
“Selfishly, I definitely want him on offense more,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence told The NFL Network. “And I told him, ‘Do you want to catch touchdowns or do you want to maybe break up a pass or two? That’s a decision you have to make.’
“He’ll make plays wherever he is, but obviously as a quarterback, I hope he plays more on offense. Wherever he plays…he will make us better.”
Just don’t think Hunter is feeling any pressure. Sure, he’s a marquee attraction infusing much hope for a franchise that has posted double-digit losses in five seasons since 2018. On many levels the Jaguars need him premium talent on offense and defense, which explains why there’s been healthy lobbying from coaches on both units for Hunter’s services.
“Nah, there ain’t no pressure,” Hunter insists. “It don’t faze me at all. I’ve been doing this for a minute. I’m not worried about what people say. I’m just out here playing football, doing what I’ve got to do to help my team win.”
Listen to Tony Boselli rave about Hunter. Boselli, the Hall of Fame left tackle, is the only player in Jaguars history with his jersey retired. During the offseason, he became the franchise’s executive vice president for football operations, which put him in the mix with Coen and new GM James Gladstone in assessing Hunter’s stock.
Of course, Hunter was the top-rated player on the Jaguars’ draft board – and one they figured they had no shot to get when originally holding the fifth pick in the first round.
Boselli admits that initially, he had reservations that Hunter could play both ways.
“I had my questions, maybe some doubts, because I had never met him,” Boselli told USA TODAY Sports. “But then you get an idea of the personality and intelligence that he had, and you watch the tape, and it’s like, ‘If anybody can do it, this guy can.’ “
Boselli said he quickly became of the opinion that Hunter doesn’t like football – he loves it.
“That’s what we need – guys who love the game,” Boselli said.
Coen sees it similarly. “He’s all ball,” Coen said. “The guy fishes and does football.”
Especially when he comes to work.
“He’s here all day and his day is maximized,” Coen said. “Every single moment he’s in the building, he has something to do. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.”
So we’ve heard.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell. On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social
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