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Travis Hunter is why we're all here, right? What Jacksonville Jaguars fans should know
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- Travis Hunter is why we're all here, right? What Jacksonville Jaguars fans should know
That's why we're all here, right?
I mean, Trevor Lawrence , yes. Josh Hines-Allen , yes. Travon Walker , yes.
And of course, Brian Thomas Jr. , yes.
But Travis Hunter is a needle mover to say the least.
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The two-way player who said he'd rather not play football at all than play for a team who wouldn't allow him to play on both sides of the ball.
The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner, with a host of other collegiate awards in tow. The highest-rated recruit in his high school class who tossed away a Florida State cap on signing day to join Deion Sanders at Jackson State, then Colorado.
When Mac Jones and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans last December , it all but assured they'd miss out on landing Hunter.
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But after completely renovating the team's leadership structure — with a new head coach , general manager and Hall of Fame executive vice president — the Jaguars did the boldest thing they could .
They sent their 2025 and 2026 first round picks and some change to the Cleveland Browns to select a once-in-a-generation player.
"Travis Hunter, he embodies belief. He's a rare person," general manager James Gladstone said during Hunter's introductory news conference. "He's a rare player. But he's also a reminder that the boundaries of the game of football were built to be challenged."
Those boundaries include Hunter playing both ways for the Jaguars. It's something the team is completely set on allowing him to do.
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) warms up before an NFL preseason matchup at EverBank Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
They've tailormade a schedule for him to spend nearly equal amounts of time with Jacksonville's offense and defense.
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A schedule that allows him to be current with both sides of the ball despite having to learn two playbooks and two different schemes.
"Every moment, every minute that he is in the building, it is accounted for and [we're] trying to make sure that we maximize his time." head coach Liam Coen said as the mastermind behind Hunter's schedule.
Hunter, unofficially, had 188 offensive snaps and 176 snaps on defense in team periods during training camp.
He showed flashes of his star potential on the field in the preseason. The mere fact that he's been featured on both sides of the ball already is impressive.
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Plus, he had times in camp where you can see the reason he was worth sacrificing a future first round pick for.
In the first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers , Hunter forced a coverage sack as he defended two receivers and allowed Dawuane Smoot the time needed to smother the quarterback.
Hunter also had the best 1-on-1 rep of camp, beating Jourdan Lewis for a touchdown in the redzone where he faked an inside release before working his way back outside and making a leaping catch.
It's obvious that he approaches this with a level of maturity and responsibility that's beyond his years.
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"The organization expects a lot out of me. They expect me to come out here and play right away," Hunter said during rookie minicamp. "I'm going to do whatever it takes for me to play right away."
But if we're tracking the most impressive thing about Hunter so far, you won't find it on a stat sheet or in a highlight mix. It's not the otherworldly athleticism or his brain capacity to play on both sides of the ball.
It's his humanity.
Hunter spent extra time signing autographs and taking pictures with fans after Jacksonville's stadium scrimmage. He started on the far side of the stadium and worked his way completely around the south end zone.
Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) signs autographs during an NFL scrimmage event at EverBank Stadium, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
He's the only player who did that. He could've easily walked off the field after the practice, offering a few waves to the people in the stands as he retreated inside of EverBank Stadium.
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Instead, he took an extra 15 minutes out his day to make memories for fans and supporters.
People were literally running to position themselves for a chance to get a second of his time. And he interacted with as many people as he could before eventually heading up the tunnel on the opposite side of the field from where he started.
It might seem small to some, but there are several in the organization who've already taken notice of how special Hunter is. And his uniqueness will go a long way regardless of what happens on the football field.
"Even just little things like interacting with the fans and the juice he brings into the stadium. That stuff does mean something," quarterback Trevor Lawrence said of Hunter. "The energy he brings and the energy he plays with and the joy and all that stuff. The way he runs around, it's fun to watch and it's fun to play with a guy like that."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What's Travis Hunter's superpower? It may surprise Jaguars fans
