In the two days of practice during Jacksonville Jaguars’ rookie minicamp, first-round pick Travis Hunter spent all of his time on the offensive side of the football.
According to John Shipley of Jaguars on SI, Hunter took part in every wide receiver position drill and was on offense during all of the team drills as well.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise. After Day 1 of the NFL draft, GM James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen mentioned that initially, Hunter would be onboarded on the offensive side of the football before seeing snaps on defense.
So, when exactly will Hunter begin taking reps on defense?
According to Coen, who spoke with the media after Saturday’s practice, those defensive practice reps will take place next week during the next phase of OTAs, when the veterans and rookies are both on the field and in the facility together.
“Next week. Yeah, next week. He’ll be able to get integrated next week on the defensive side of the ball,” Coen said about Hunter’s practice role moving forward, via Jaguars on SI.
“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.”
Coen added that while Hunter’s focus on the practice field over these few days at rookie minicamp was on offense, he’s already begun learning some of the terminology on the defensive side of the football.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be about, on the defensive side of the ball, communication,” Coen added via Big Cat Country. “The technique and fundamentals, we’ll continue to harp on, 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 kind of take care of itself.”
Throughout this process of Hunter playing both offense and defense, as Coen said after the NFL draft, the Jaguars will have to remain “fluid” and willing to adapt Hunter’s schedule as needed, both in the short term and as the season progresses.
(This article was updated to provide additional information.)
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Travis Hunter featured on offense at Jaguars’ rookie minicamp; when will he play defense?
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Jaguars Wire / Jaguars Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
