Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen recently appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” and revealed the team’s hopes for Travis Hunter’s usage in Year One. The first-year head coach explained how getting to know the Heisman winner better has been a priority since the draft, as the team works out the best way to coach him.
Coen spoke confidently about integrating Hunter into the offensive and defensive units, suggesting that things are progressing well.
Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen Talks Up Travis Hunter’s Early Progress
The Jaguars made a huge move to acquire Hunter, giving up their 2026 first-round pick and more significant draft capital to move up just three spots in the draft. But with Hunter’s potential as a two-way player being so much higher than that of other top prospects, the team decided to be aggressive.
The move has put pressure on them to maximize that potential, though, given that the player’s biggest strength is his ability to dominate offense and defense. Many believe that Hunter will struggle to play both ways in the NFL due to both the physical demands and the extra preparation it would take each week.
Speaking to McAfee and A.J. Hawk, though, Coen explained how the team is approaching the player’s unique situation.
“We kinda built a plan, and then sat him down and really talked through it. How does he learn? What are the best ways that he learns? We did gain some of that information throughout the draft process. But when you actually sit down with him and get a feeling of – ‘Well, he likes the walk-through, rather than sit in a meeting room setting, so let’s do more walk-throughs.'”
Coen then explained that Hunter’s two-way play has been a slow ramp-up during the offseason, but he has started to play both sides in practice.
“Typically, throughout this offseason, he was on one side of the ball in practice, and he didn’t flip-flop; today (Thursday, June 12), he did, and he played both sides of the ball in practice today. And that will have to continue on through training camp, where he’s playing on both sides of the ball and getting that mental and physical endurance throughout the training camp. Because that’s what he’s gonna have to do in games.”
It certainly sounds as though the Jaguars, as you would expect, have treated Hunter’s development with the utmost care and due diligence. It was thought that Coen and his staff might struggle to effectively coach Hunter in two different positions, but the team had a plan, and it sounds like it’s working so far.