Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter is gearing up for his maiden NFL season after he was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Hunter has yet to play so much as a single preseason game with the Jaguars, yet his work ethic has already impressed folks within the organization. Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski said that Hunter’s level of conditioning is “unbelievably rare.”
“That’s unbelievably rare,” Udinski said. “I don’t know that I’ve seen anything like it, with that level of conditioning before. Obviously, he’s expected to do something that I have not seen another player do, that none of us have seen before. It is once again a testament to his work, his training in the heat in the summer, to be able to come out here and do this.
“It is hot. No joke. There are guys out here struggling to just do one, and he’s doing multiple things, juggling different things mentally, physically. It’s a testament to his work. The conditioning is definitely apparent.”
Cornerback Jourdan Lewis — who agreed to sign a three-year deal with the Jaguars this offseason after he spent his first eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys — had similarly positive words for the youngster’s work ethic. He used the word “different” to describe Hunter’s level of conditioning.
“A lot of times guys get tired on one side of the ball and he’s concentrating his energy on both sides of the ball,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be tough, especially being his first time in the NFL, but I think he has it.
“He has to do it.”
Hunter is a unique talent in the sense that he’s highly skilled and effective on both sides of the ball. Offensively, he’s a terrific receiver who led his entire conference in receptions and receiving touchdowns while playing for the University of Colorado Boulder in the 2024 collegiate season. Hunter also averaged 96.8 receiving yards per game and racked up 1,258 total receiving yards in his final campaign as a Buffalo.
He was arguably equally as impactful playing as a cornerback on the defensive side of the ball. Hunter had 11 passes defended and came up with four interceptions. To boot, he ended up with 36 combined tackles and won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award last season.
The Jaguars are hoping that Hunter’s presence will elevate the squad on both sides of the ball in the coming 2025 season, as the team’s play on offense and defense a season ago left a lot to be desired. Only six offenses scored fewer touchdowns than Jacksonville’s offense did, and the Jaguars’ defense allowed a whopping 25.6 points per contest.
Hunter’s potential NFL debut is in the not-so-distant future, as in just over one month from now, the Jaguars will start their season with a matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 7. Hopefully, Hunter will kick his pro career off with a bang and put together a standout performance.
