The Jacksonville Jaguars landed one of the biggest coups in the 2025 NFL Draft, trading up to No. 2 to get Travis Hunter, the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner. He also notoriously plays both sides of the ball, the only player in college history who has been given the Chuck Bednarik and Fred Biletnikoff Awards, for his outstanding play on both offense and defense. And he made it clear that whichever team he played for in the NFL, he wanted o be able to continue on as a two-way player.
And from the beginning, the Jaguars made it clear they had a plan to accommodate that. With training camp having started, fans got to see how he could perform once the season begins, especially during the team's first mock game.
As expected, Hunter switched from offense to defense, the first time he had done so. Previously, he had played solely for either the offense or defense during practice. And in the next practice during training camp, he set another milestone, in a feat that left one sports analyst awed.
I saw Travis Hunter do things today I have never seen any other NFL player do in my 7 seasons as a beat reporter.
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) August 5, 2025
This and more on everything I saw at Day 10 of #Jaguars training camp.https://t.co/KKk56Vbuqa
SI's John Shipley said he saw Hunter do things he's never seen before, saying that each day at training camp brings a new "amazing feat" from the rising star. And that continued on Day 10.
"We have seen Hunter switch between offense and defense on the same day before, but we have never seen anything like what Hunter did on Tuesday as he donned the teal receiver jersey and a white defensive penny on the same day," Shipley said. "During team drills, Hunter started on offense, put on a white jersey to switch to defense for several plays, and then went right back to offense and into the huddle. In the span of five to six plays, he played both sides of the ball and never left the field."
That's an exciting update in and of itself, but how did Hunter actually play? According to head coach Liam Coen, he did... pretty well.
"We weren't playing in any 11 personnel. So he's still learning 12 personnel other positions, so that he can continue to get in right in some of those personnel groupings. You know, because he plays the 'F' in 11 to go and play the 'Z' and 12," Coen said. "It's just another added learning curve that we need to continue to work on. I think he'll say it was probably, it was a little bit more tired than usually gets. But I thought he still showed up, made some plays across the middle, as he's kind of continued to do. And it's just good to get into that habit of we mentioned we wanted to get to this point post-scrimmage, just starting to let them roll in between racks to get them some extra work."
It's still a long way from Hunter winning Offensive - or Defensive? - Rookie of the Year, but it still certainly looks promising.