Since the Jacksonville Jaguars drafted two-way star Travis Hunter with the No. 2 pick, their plan has been to start off using him primarily on offense while also letting him learn and practice on defense.
Over a month sicne the draft, the Jaguars have stuck with that plan. Though the Jaguars brass made clear after the draft that they will be flexible with their plan for Hunter as needed, Hunter has seen more time in practice at wide receiver so far.
Hunter again spent practice on Monday at receiver, but Jaguars coach Liam Coen said while chuckling that secondary coach Ron Milus is already pitching him for more time with the rookie.
"[Milus] came up to me after practice and said, 'Can we have [Hunter] more?'" Coen said to reporters. "So that's a good thing. We were in the red area last Friday and he didn't end up making any plays on the ball, but just the movement skills in some of the man coverages, the feel in zone, you can definitely see how natural it is for him. Still learning, still growing, still trying to learn the calls as much as possible, but when you see him just in the actual 7-on-7 in the team setting, he doesn't look out of place by any means."
Coen shared last week that the Jaguars currently do not plan to have Hunter practice on both sides of the ball in the same day, but that will likely change once the regular season rolls around. Even when he is not practicing on defense, he still meets up with his defensive coaches regularly, helping him stay up to speed mentally on both sides of the ball.
The Jaguars did offer an initial glimpse of what Hunter has looked like on the defensive side of the ball for the team in a clip posted over the weekend. The clip showed plays from Hunter in practice on both offense and defense, including a brief moment of Hunter covering Jaguars' star receiver Brian Thomas Jr.
Hunter remains in the early stages of preparing to play on both sides of the ball in the NFL, but is quickly making an impression at both receiver and cornerback.
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